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| National Guard troops at Shenandoah, Pa., July, 1902. |
Cortland Evening Standard, Thursday, July 31, 1902.
TROOPS CALLED OUT.
Reign of Terror Exists at Shenandoah.
TWO POLICE AND CITIZENS DEAD.
Score of Strikers Shot by Policemen—Deputy Sheriff Escorting Non-Union Men Was Mobbed—His Brother Helping Him Was Beaten to Death—Many Shots Fired.
Shenandoah, Pa., July 31.—A reign of terror holds Shenandoah in its grasp. Since 6 o'clock last evening Center street, one of the principal streets of the town, has been in the hands of an infuriated mob.
Two of the borough policemen were shot, one fatally. Joseph Beddall, a leading merchant and a cousin of Sheriff Beddall, was brutally clubbed to death, and upwards of a score of strikers were shot by policemen, and it is expected that many deaths will result.
Sheriff Beddall arrived from Pottsville at 7:45 o'clock with a posse of deputies. He took up his headquarters at the Ferguson hotel, which was surrounded by several thousand men. To a press reporter he admitted that he had asked Governor Stone to send the militia. The governor wired that if the citizens of the town petition for troops he would send them, and a petition was circulated for that purpose.
The trouble started about 6 o'clock when Deputy Sheriff Thomas Beddall attempted to escort two non-union workers through the strikers' line of pickets. The workmen were dressed in their street clothes but one of them carried a bundle under his arm and this aroused the suspicion of the strikers. The bundle was torn from him and when it was found to contain a blouse and overalls the man was taken from the deputy and beaten almost to death.
In the meantime Beddall opened fire on the mob which had gathered by this time, and emptied his revolver. Two of the shots took effect, one man being shot in the leg and the other in the foot. The deputy and the other strike breaker were compelled to fly for their lives and took refuge in the Philadelphia and Reading depot.
The depot was soon surrounded by an angry mob of 5,000, who were becoming more threatening and demonstrative every moment.
Joseph Beddall, a hardware merchant and brother of the deputy sheriff, was seen making his way through the crowd in an effort to reach his brother, and the mob, divining that he was carrying ammunition to those inside the depot, seized him and beat him with clubs and billies into insensibility. He died en route to the Miners' hospital.
Shortly after this the entire borough police force arrived on the scene and escorted the deputy sheriff and his man to an engine which had been backed into the depot for that purpose. When the mob realized that their prey was about to escape, they surrounded the engine and the engineer was afraid to move. In a few moments the police fired a volley, dispersing the crowd for a brief period and the engineer turned on full steam and got away with his men. Stones were thrown thick and fast about the heads of the police whereupon Chief John Fry gave the order to fire.
At the first volley the mob fell back and several were seen to fall.
Their retreat, however, was but momentary. They turned and with revolvers, stones and a few shotguns they charged on the little band of policemen and made them fly for their lives. The policemen turned in their flight at short intervals and fired volley after volley at their pursuers. When the Lehigh railroad crossing was reached a passing freight train blocked the progress of the police, two of whom were caught and brutally beaten. One of them, Stiney Yacopsky, will die.
It is estimated that upwards of 1,000 shots were fired and the wonder is that more fatalities did not result. More than 20 strikers, all of whom were foreigners, were shot and at least two of them will die.
Many of the merchants and politicians are refusing to sign the call for troops, fearing that the miners will boycott them after the trouble is over.
Cipriano Castro.
WAR IN VENEZUELA.
President Following Up Retreating Forces of General Mendoza.
Willemstad, Island of Curacoa, July 31.—All eastern ports of Venezuela, including Barcelona, have been abandoned by President Castro, all of whose forces and resources are being concentrated near La Victoria, which is three days distant from Caracas, and which is near the mountainous district of Cuarico, where the advance guard of revolutionists under General Mendoza appeared some days ago. General Mendosa's forces retreated, however, to join General Matos' army, which was in the neighborhood of El Sombrero and advancing by forced marches. Once those two forces effect a junction it is expected that they will take the offensive against President Castro.
The situation of the government is far from clear, notwithstanding the revolution seems lacking in unity and direction. Although there is much opposition to President Castro he still controls the situation and a single defeat inflicted upon the revolutionists probably would render him the arbiter of the country's future. The president intends to leave Caracas for La Victoria Thursday. The revolutionists have reappeared on the outskirts of Caracas.
The United States steamer Potomac has visited La Guaira.
PAGE FOUR—EDITORIAL
Car Dispatching by Telephone.
The Massachusetts railroad commission has been investigating the cause of several serious accidents on the single track street car lines of the state, and its findings are not only of interest to street railroad men elsewhere, but to the public generally.
It was found that one of the most common causes of head on collisions on single track lines was the misunderstanding or inaccuracy of the dispatcher's orders, which are generally transmitted by telephone. An instance is cited in the case of a collision on the Brockton and Plymouth Street railway at Hanson, Mass., where the fact was revealed that the orders which were sent over the telephone to the respective motormen wore not identical, or at least that one motorman's understanding of them was entirely different from that of the other. The dispatcher insisted that the two orders sent by him were alike, but as no record of them was kept it was impossible to determine the truth of the matter. It is not unlikely that neither the motormen nor the dispatcher was really at fault, but that the accident resulted from the indistinct pronunciation of the telephone.
With the view of minimizing the number of accidents from this and other causes the Massachusetts railroad commissioners are co-operating with the officers of various traction companies of the state in devising a new and improved system of signaling cars. It is said that one of the first steps to be taken will involve either the total abandonment of the telephone for transmitting orders on such lines or a radical change in the present method of telephonic dispatching.
Built in 1876. 
Built in 1819.
AN OLD LAND MARK.
The Old Cortland County Clerk's Office Which was Erected in 1819.
USED FOR FIFTY-SEVEN YEARS.
Replaced in 1876 by the Present Building—Some of the History Connected With the Old Building—Complete List of County Clerks from Time County Was Set off Till the Present.
The following paper by Wm. R. V. Townsend upon "The Old County Clerk's Office," was read at a recent meeting of Tioughnioga chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution:
The new world has been commiserated because it has no ruins. America will never have any ruins. The ambition of her people to be up to date seizes on the first symptoms of decay or inefficiency to sweep away the old and put in its place the new, adapted to the needs of the hour. History and photography can alone preserve to younger generations an idea of the place full [of] interest to the forefathers.
Among the last of the ancient land marks to be removed in our city was the old county clerk's office. From the year 1808 to 1819 when Cortland county was formed from Onondaga, the county records were kept in different places—office, store, shop or residence of the incumbent, as the case might be, and of course, exposed to danger from fire and loss.
Old Building Erected.
On March 12, 1819, an act was passed by the legislature of the state of New York authorizing the board of supervisors of Cortland county to raise the sum of $1,200, by generał tax, with which to purchase a site and build a fire proof building for the safe deposit of all public records. The second section of the act reads as follows: "James Chatterton, Samuel G. Hatheway and Grove Gillette shall be a board of commissioners to purchase a suitable lot to erect said building on, which lot shall front the main street in Cortland village, and also to superintend the erection of said building; and the said commissioners or a majority of them, may draw their order on the treasurer of said county for the said sum of $1,200 whenever it may come into his hands."
The commissioners purchased a site from Moses Hopkins, 30 feet wide on Main-st. and extending back from the west line of the street 36 feet, being a portion of the site of the present office building. The deed was dated Aug. 13, 1819, consideration $50 and was recorded Aug. 21, 1819, in Liber H. of Deeds, on page 112. The building was erected in 1819. It was one story, built of brick, with a gable roof, covered with shingles and was about 18 feet wide on the street, about 30 feet long and was situated on the southeast corner of the lot. There were two rooms, the front being the larger one, with a small room in the rear. There was a space about 12 feet wide on the north side of the office between the building and the north line of the lot. This was enclosed on the street side by a high, tight board fence, which was used as a bill board for a great many years. In later years the building was painted yellow. The floor was of old-fashioned, large, square bricks. There were sheet iron shutters for the windows, but they were never closed at night. The front door, which was of wood, was also covered with sheet iron. The inside doors, windows and door casings were of wood, and later on a wooden floor was laid on top of the bricks in the front room.
Inadequate and Dangerous.
When the office was first erected, there was another structure near it, and it was entirely isolated. But for a good many years before the office was torn down there was a wooden building on the south, with only a space of 2 feet between. The old Fireman's hall also of wood was built close up to the north line of the clerk's office lot, 12 feet from it. There was great danger from fire on both sides.
As the books and papers accumulated and records increased the building became too small and was badly crowded, and for as many as fifteen or twenty years the business of the county was transacted with great difficulty and under obvious disadvantages, to the clerk, to his assistants, and to the public.
The old county clerk's office was in actual use as a repository of the public records of the county, for about fifty-seven years. For many years it [was] totally inadequate for the purposes for which it was intended, and as in the course of time it became surrounded with more modern and [pretentious] structures, it became more and more an object of ridicule and derision. In the "Cortland Democrat" there appeared a number of humorous articles ridiculing the old building, and mercilessly criticizing the authorities for failing to provide a proper and suitable receptacle for the county records. To that newspaper is due much of the credit for getting the present commodious and well equipped office building.
The New Building.
In the year 1875, the board of supervisors voted to build a new office, and Mathias Van Hoesen of Preble, Deloss McGraw of Cortlandville and William A. Bentley of Marathon, were appointed by the board, a building committee. The committee purchased an addition to the original site, 30 feet by 55 feet in the rear, at a cost of $1,500, of which $1,000 was paid by the county, and $500 raised by individual contributions.
The records were moved out of the old building on April 17, 1876, to the grand jury room in the courthouse, which was used as a temporary office during the erection of the new building. The old building was demolished in April, 1876, and work was at once begun on the new one. The present handsome and substantial structure of three stories for the county clerk, county judge and board of supervisors, was completed and ready for occupancy early in the year 1877, and the records moved into it during the month of February of that year. The new building, including addition to site, cost about $18,000. This, however, did not include the interior furnishings.
List of County Clerks.
The following are the names of the different county clerks with the dates of their appointments or election, respectively:
John Ballard, appointed April 8, 1808.
Ruben Washburn, appointed April 3, 1810.
John Ballard, appointed March 4, 1811.
Mead Merrill, appointed April 2, 1813.
William Mallery, appointed March 2, 1815.
Joshua Ballard, appointed July 7, 1819.
Matthias Cook, appointed Feb. 14, 1821.
Samuel Hotchkiss, Jr., elected November, 1822.
Samuel Hotchkiss, Jr., re-elected November, 1825.
Samuel Hotchkiss, re-elected November, 1828.
Samuel Hotchkiss re-elected November 1831.
Orin Stimson, elected 1834.
Orin Stimson re-elected November, 1837.
Gideon C. Babcock, elected November, 1840.
Samuel Hotchkiss, elected November, 1843.
Samuel Hotchkiss, re-elected, November, 1846.
Rufus A. Reed, elected , November, 1849.
Rufus A. Reed, re-elected, November, 1852 and 1855.
Allis W. Ogden, elected November, 1858.
DeWitt C. McGraw, elected November, 1861.
DeWitt C. McGraw, re-elected November, 1864.
Frank Place, elected, November 1867.
Frank Place, re-elected November, 1870 and 1873.
Wm. S. Maycumber, elected November, 1876.
Howard J. Harrington, elected November, 1879.
R. Walworth Bourne, elected November, 1882.
Wm. H. Morgan, elected November, 1885.
Hubert T. Bushnell, elected November, 1888.
Stephen K. Jones, elected November, 1891.
Ephraim C. Palmer, elected November, 1894.
Hubert T. Bushnell, elected November, 1897.
Otis D. Patrick, elected November, 1900.
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Rev. Oscar A. Houghton, D. D.
Rev. Dr. Houghton Married.
Rev. O. A. Houghton, D. D., of Clifton Springs, for five years pastor of the First M. E. church of this city, was yesterday married at the home of the bride in Syracuse to Mrs. Ida G. DeLaMater, the ceremony being performed by Rev. A. H. Fanestock, pastor of the First Ward Presbyterian church of that city. Dr. and Mrs. Houghton have gone to the Thousand Islands to spend the month of August. Dr. Houghton has a host of friends in this city [Cortland] who will extend to himself and his bride their best wishes.
BACK IN THE OLD PLACE.
Evidences that Trout Brook has Changed its Course in Former Year.
Last night the Erie & Central New York Railroad company ran its first train the entire length of the road since the big washout of last Sunday. It is thought by the railroad officials that Trout brook is now back to the bed it must have occupied years ago, for traces of old piles and other timbers are found by workmen who are fixing the company's bridge over the brook. It may be that the trouble that has been experienced by both the railroad company and the street car company has arisen from a change in other times of the road bed and that the stream is just getting back to its old haunts.
Prohibition cartoon.
PROHIBITION PICNIC.
Delegates to State Convention—Address by the Black Knight.
The Cortland county Prohibitionists held a picnic at the park yesterday afternoon, and besides the addresses by State Chairman J. H. Durkee of Rochester and Rev. John Hector of York, Pa., commonly known as the Black Knight, the delegates to the state convention at Saratoga were chosen.
It was a cold water day in all respects. A large crowd gathered in the grove near the pavilion to listen to the addresses in the open air, but a brisk shower came on while the preliminaries were being arranged, and a grand rush for the pavilion was made. The people gathered in the dancing hall, and there the meeting was held.
Delegates to State Convention.
County Chairman N. H. Gillette called the meeting to order after prayer by Rev. C. L. Rice. Mr. C. W, Collins nominated as delegates to the state convention Messrs. N. H. Gillette, Dr. F. D. Reese, Philo Mead, C. A. Lowell, Dell June, C. P. Cobb, T. Blackman, E. L. Tanner and Dr. E. B. Nash. Nominations for offices on the city and county ticket were not made. These will be made at a convention yet to be called.
The Black Knight.
Chairman Durkee made a very short address and introduced the Black Knight as the orator of the day. The colored preacher stated that Prohibitionists might be likened to soldiers who volunteered in the civil war. Some went in for six, eight or ten months, while others signed for three years or until the close of the war, and he said that if the war had continued until the present time he would expect to see some of those fellows fighting yet. He said some had volunteered in the fight against rum and had fallen off, but he felt sure that in Cortland county there were a large number that were in the battle until the end of the fight.
He said that slavery had been sustained for a long time by men in the church, and he declared that this is the chief obstacle that is met today in dealing with the liquor matter. He thought the enthusiasm of the church is now contained in the bell and organ. He would like to superintend the funeral of the liquor traffic. He would bury it face downward so that if it should ever come to life and begin digging it would go down still farther instead of coming to the surface.
At the close of the speech, which was full of witty remarks, Rev. W. H. Davis, pastor of the A. M. E. Zion church of Cortland, sang a solo. Contents of baskets were then made way with, and the picnic proper was begun.
BREVITIES.
—New display advertisements today are—Perkins & Quick, Tooth wash, page 6.
—A regular meeting of the Physicians' league will be held in the supervisor's rooms tomorrow afternoon at 4:30 o'clock.
—The funeral of Mrs. James Steele of Preble who died yesterday will be held at St. Mary's Catholic church in Cortland on Saturday morning at 10 o'clock, the friends with the remains leaving the house in Preble at 8 o'clock. Burial in St. Mary's cemetery in Cortland.
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