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| Samuel Gompers. |
Cortland Evening Standard, Wednesday, November 19, 1902.
GOMPERS-SHAFFER DISPUTE.
Committee of Investigation Unable to Agree on a Fifth Man.
New Orleans, Nov. 19.—In replying to the address of Mr. Edwards and other fraternal delegates President Gompers of the American Federation of Labor referred to the criticisms made by him in his annual address of President Eliot, "The strike breaker, a strike breaker, a hero." He upheld the position he had taken respecting President Eliot. The strike breaker, President Gompers declared, was as much a traitor to the cause of labor as any man who betrayed his country in time of war.
At the conclusion of President Gompers' address debate was resumed upon the Berger old age pension resolution.
A vote was taken, and the report of the committee against the resolution was adopted by 85 to 90.
The executive council, which has under consideration the application of United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners for the revocation of the charter of the Amalgamated Association of Wood Workers, reported against the application. An application for the revocation of the Piano and Organ Workers' union was also denied.
The application of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners for the revocation of the charter of the Amalgamated Association of Carpenters was likewise reported against.
The salary of the president of the American Federation of Labor was increased from $2,100 per annum to $3,000 and the salary of the secretary from $1,800 to $2,500. The increases were voted only after a long debate and against a great deal of opposition.
The special committee having before it the dispute between President Gompers and President Shaffer of the Amalgamated Association, finally organized by selecting E. A. Tanquery of the telegraphers as the fifth member.
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| Charles Rufus Skinner. |
Thanksgiving Day Exercises.
Albany, N. Y., Nov. 19.—Superlntendent of Public Instruction Charles R. Skinner has sent a letter to all superintendents and school commissioners throughout the state suggesting that on Wednesday, Nov. 26, simple exercises appropriate to Thanksgiving be held in every public school, and that these exercises include the reading of the Thanksgiving day proclamations of the president of the United States and the governor of New York.
PAGE FOUR—EDITORIAL.
Truck's Confession.
John Truck, who murdered Frank W. Miller in the town of Virgil on the night of March 14, 1899, has paid the penalty of his crime. The execution was long delayed and everything was done that legal skill could accomplish to secure a new trial for the prisoner or to commute his sentence to life imprisonment. But all to no purpose. The court of appeals decided that there was no error in the trial of the case, a commission in lunacy declared that Truck was sane at the time examined and sane at the time the deed was committed, the United States court refused to entertain a motion to take up the case on the ground alleged that the prisoner had been deprived of any of his constitutional rights, and the governor declined to interfere in the matter.
Upon the day of execution the fact was disclosed that long ago Truck had confessed to Dr. Dana, who was one of his expert witnesses upon the question of sanity at the trial that he did murder Miller, but that the act was not premeditated but was the result of a quarrel and that in the scrimmage the lamp was accidentally upset and that this started the fire which burned up the house.
If there was any one fact brought out upon the trial it was that Truck from his boyhood had been a tremendous and confirmed liar, that he lied when the truth would have served him better, lied to see how men would receive his stories and what they would say. And it was upon this fact of his habitual lying that the theory of insanity was largely based by the defense in the trial.
Those who heard the testimony in the case and those who knew of the history of all of the occurrences from the time Truck left Homer for Virgil upon the first trip a week before the night of the crime till his arrest near Cardiff, will find it very hard to convince themselves that the murder was not deliberately and carefully planned in advance. If the lamp had been overturned in a scrimmage resulting from an unexpected quarrel Truck would not have had time to pick up all of Miller's possessions before the fire would have driven him from the house. But as it was the house was completely stripped of everything of value, Miller's clothing, his watch, his money, private papers from his trunk and even butter and pork from the cellar being among the articles carried away. The testimony at the trial showed that Miller died probably not later than 7 o'clock in the evening and it was near to 11 o'clock before the fire broke out.
The conclusion cannot fail to be that this confession of Truck's was but another one of his lies. It cannot be reconciled with the facts in the case. He deliberately planned and executed the murder, was detected, convicted and has paid the penalty. No one in Cortland county, we believe, thirsted for his blood or sought his life for the sake of his life, but since it is the law of the state that the penalty for a premeditated murder is electrocution, nothing less than that would have been a vindication of justice.
THEIR NEIGHBORS' HENS
And Claims for Damages Occupy the Attention of the [Cortland] Common Council.
The meeting of the common council last evening was as peaceful and harmonious as could well be asked for. All the members were present.
W. S. Southworth, 146 Tompkins-st., and G. W. Wolcott, 46 Maple-ave., renewed their former protests against the invasions of their neighbors' hens. The ordinance in regard to the duties of the poundmaster was looked up, and it was decided that the restriction of the running at large of hens fell to the lot of the poundmaster. Mayor Brown said he would refer the matter to the poundmaster at once.
Mayor Brown announced that he had designated the scales at the Central market and those at the store of Ryan & Hall as the city scales. The matter of appointing a city sealer of weights and measures was put over until the next meeting after being discussed, as it is thought that such an officer might conflict in the discharge of these duties with the county sealer of weights and measures.
Attorney Thomas H. Dowd again appeared before the board in relation to the claim of Charles Erway against the city. This matter was also put over until the next meeting. Mr. Erway offers to settle with the city for his broken leg for $1,500. The board desired more time to ascertain if Mr. Erway's injuries will prove permanent.
The board adjourned until its regular meeting, Dec. 2.
BICYCLE THIEF ARRESTED.
Confessed—Had Changed the Wheels into Other Machines.
Ed Bacon, who boards at Waterman's at the rear of 74 Maple-ave., was arrested last night by Chief Barnes on the charge of stealing a bicycle. He was arraigned in city court last night and stoutly declared his innocence. This morning, however, he confessed.
Three weeks ago Friday night Arthur J. French, a clerk at Mansur's grocery store, missed his Racycle wheel, which had been left out in front of the store. It was nearly 12 o'clock when it was taken. All efforts to get trace of the stolen wheel proved unsuccessful until yesterday afternoon, when George O. Tibbitts of 74 Maple-ave. came to him and stated that he had found a part of a wheel frame back of the henhouse at that place, and the color of the frame was the same as that of Mr. French's wheel.
The owner of the wheel went with Mr. Tibbitts and identified the part of the wheel as his own. Seeing a bicycle by the Waterman house in the rear, the two examined it and found that one of the wheels of this bicycle was one that had been taken from the stolen wheel. The occupants of the house claimed that they did not know where the wheel came from.
Officers Barnes and Baker were notified and went at once to the Waterman house and placed Bacon under arrest. Later, when Chief Barnes threatened to scoop the whole house if they refused to explain how the wheel was secured, Mrs. Waterman told him that Baker had brought the bicycle home late at night and changed the wheels to other frames. One of the wheels went on a frame that was taken to Solon and swapped for a horse.
Mrs. Waterman, it will be remembered, with Laura Truck, wife of John Truck who was executed at Auburn prison yesterday, was found at the cheese factory dwelling of the Waterman and Roads in the town of Solon last December by a party of Cortland officers when the bond wire that was stolen from the traction company's rails was located in the cellar under that building.
Bacon agreed to pay the owner of the wheel $15 for his loss, which he did. He was then given a suspended sentence of thirty days.
BANQUET TO BE SERVED
To the Board of Supervisors by County Clerk Patrick Thursday Night.
The board convened at 9 o'clock this morning upon the eighth day of the session and was called to order by Chairman Crosley. After the regular order of business the rules were suspended for the day, and the members busied themselves with committee work.
The clerk read a communication from County Clerk O. D. Patrick, inviting the board to be present at a banquet at The Kremlin tomorrow evening. The invitation was accepted without a dissenting voice.
The Silver Pheasants.
R. W. Mitchell has this morning received his pair of Silver Pheasants ordered a few days ago from Ohio. They are beauties, the black and white effect upon the back and wings of the male bird looking like pen and ink work. There is not the bright coloring of the Golden Pheasant which came a few days ago, but the birds are very handsome. With three varieties, the Golden, Silver and Ring Neck Pheasants, Mr. Mitchell will doubtless have enough pets at home to take up all of his spare time and attention for the present.
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| Charles Grandison Maybury |
OLD DAYS IN HOMER, N. Y.
Some of the Characteristics of the Town and People
AS VIEWED BY A MAN FROM SOLON, N. Y.
The Great Shopping Center of the County—The Early Merchants—Uncle Jedediah Barber's Pulpit—The Temperance Hotels—The Van Auden House and its Proprietor.
To the Editor of The Standard:
Sir—This correspondent, Rip Van Winkle-like, has been apparently sleeping for several month's past, but under a more favorable condition of health will now endeavor to send you a few more reminiscences of ye olden days, hoping they may be of sufficient interest to engage the attention of the older readers of The Standard.
Merchants of Homer.
Sixty or more years ago people from the eastern and middle portion of Cortland county who went to the villages to trade would often drive through Cortland village and on to Homer, where they would make most of their purchases. Barber and Sherman were the leading and [rival] merchants of the town. It was usually conceded that Barber's was the largest store and kept the greatest variety of goods and employed the largest number of clerks—seventeen or eighteen—of any merchant in the county.
The following incident was related years ago: One neighbor said to another: "I will bet you $10 that you cannot go into Barber's store and ask for any article that he will not have." The bet was taken. So they called on Mr. Barber and the one who took the bet asked the proprietor if he had a pulpit in the store for sale. The aged merchant replied, "I think I have. Mr. Cook, will you take the gentleman up into the store attic where I think you will find one." And sure enough when the third floor was reached there covered with dust was a church pulpit. So the stakes were turned over to the fortunate winner. The pulpit incident was explained in this way: A few years before one of the village churches was making some alterations in the interior and among other changes was the introduction of a new pulpit and Uncle Jed was asked if he could not find storage room for the old one in the attic of his large store.
A Highly Moral Town.
Homer in early days was settled by a sturdy class of New England people deeply imbued with Puritanic principles. Therefore, the village for a great many years was celebrated for its strict features of morality. A gentleman who for several years was a resident of Homer recently said to the writer that he would never have thought of hitching up his horse and carriage and riding out for pleasure on the Sabbath as the people there would consider such an act highly improper and would at once place the seal of condemnation upon it.
At one time Homer had two hotels which were kept strictly on temperance principles. The proprietor of one was Uncle George W. Samson, who is remembered by all the older inhabitants and whose son, Isaac M. Samson, a man now nearly 90 years of age, is a resident of the village and like his father is given to producing rhymes which have a merry jingle. The gentleman who kept the other house without a bar, was Godowick Van Auden, who came to Homer from Moravia in the spring of 1853 and opened the hotel formerly kept by Thomas Harrop. Harrop always kept a bar in his hotel to which the citizens were decidedly opposed. The Van Auden hotel was very popular and was well and favorably known through Cortland and the adjoining counties. Mr. Van Auden kept strictly a temperance house, as is shown by an anecdote which we will mention in a later letter, and the citizens were justly proud of the character of the public hostelry over which mine host presided.
An Old Time Hostelry.
We clip from a Homer paper of that period the account of an oyster supper served at that house. It says: "Although the state of the roads was quite unfavorable on last Wednesday evening for those who reside out of the village, yet a large number of Mr. Van Auden's friends accepted the invitation to visit him at that time. It was highly gratifying to Mr. and Mrs. Van Auden and their friends to witness the appreciation of their efforts to keep such a hotel as shall secure the approbation of the best classes of society in our town and vicinity. The fact that about 200 of our citizens, including several from adjoining towns, were present on this occasion is a full proof that this approbation has been completely secured. No pains have been spared by Mr. and Mrs. Van Auden to accomplish this result. The reputation of this house is second to none in the country. It is the uniform testimony of travelers who stop there that they find everything which they need to render their stay an agreeable one. In addition to the luxuries of a well spread table the traveler finds the house kept in such a neat, quiet, orderly and homelike manner that be cannot refrain from expressing his gratification with the manner in which he is treated. Beside other comforts he finds good books and a ready access to such papers as the following: The Cortland county Republican, The New York Independent, The Broome Gazette, The New York Daily Tribune, The Albany Evening Journal, The Daily Argus and Atlas, and the Syracuse Daily Journal. We need not add that no intoxicating liquors of any kind can be obtained at this establishment. Mr. Van Auden is a thoroughgoing temperance man. He could not keep such a house as he does if he were not. The supper was a good one, and the company dispersed at a seasonable hour, all agreeing that they had had a first rate time.
Your correspondent would further add that a gentleman of some 78 years can frequently be seen on the streets of this city driving a spirited horse before a carriage and judging from his erect position as he handles the ribbons one would judge the driver to be slightly rising 50 years of age.
Such is Mr. Van Auden of the famous Homer hostelry of fifty years ago, who with his good wife has been one of our humble residents for some twenty years past.
Winona, Minn., Nov. 12, 1902.
BREVITIES.
—A flock of forty wild geese passed over Cortland at a little before noon today. Their general trend was south westward.
—Dr. David Keppel, pastor of the First M. E. church, will preach at the revival service at the Homer-ave. M. E. church this evening at 7:30 o'clock.
—The Cortland steam laundry has fitted up the basement of its building for the washing of soiled and oily blouses and overalls, and is doing quite a business in this line.
—The new display advertisements today are—C. P. Brown, Drugs, page 4; The Corner grocery, Dill pickles, page 4; M. A. Case, Suit specials, page 6.
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