Cortland Semi-Weekly Standard, Tuesday, June 16, 1903.
ASSASSINATED.
King Alexander and Queen Draga Machen.
MURDERED BY MILITARY MOB.
Murmurings in the Evening—Mob of Soldiers Rushed to Palace and Killed the Rulers—Others Also Put to Death—New Government Proclaimed.
Belgrade, June 11.— King Alexander and Queen Draga Machen were assassinated during a military revolution which broke out at 2 o’clock this morning in the streets of Belgrade. A proclamation was posted in the streets shortly after, stating that their majesties had been shot.
This morning’s trouble was precipitated by Alexander’s high-handedness under the influence of Queen Draga. Public opinion, especially in army circles, has been seething for months past and the king’s act in stifling the popular voice at the recent election by a forced ministerial success was the last straw.
The first intimation of serious trouble, however, was not manifest until last night, when murmurings began to be heard, which gradually increased in volume until, with a roar, the army at 2 o’clock this morning, broke all bounds and started a revolution. The palace was their first point of attack and thither the military mob rushed.
Various reports are current as to the manner in which the king and queen died. One has it that both were shot by members of the military, while another story has it that the king, seeing the end was inevitable, first shot the queen and then turned his revolver on himself, committing suicide.
The mob, made thirsty by their taste of blood, then made its way to the apartments of Premier Zinzar, and Colonel Markovitch, the commander of the king’s guard. Both with their wives were shot down in cold blood. In all eight persons lost their lives.
Immediately after the assassination of the king, the mob proclaimed Prince Kara-Georgovitch, the pretender, in Alexander’s stead.
A new government was also installed by the military authority, with M. Avakomovitch, of the Independent Liberal party, as premier. With the proverbial speed of Servian [sic] politics, the new premier immediately convoked the National representatives, who were elected under the constitution of 1901, to meet here immediately and arrange a new government and constitution.
The city of Belgrade, after the assassination of the monarchs, quickly returned to a state of comparative quiet. While immense crowds were gathered in the streets discussing the news and arguing the right and wrong of the revolutionists’ acts, there were no signs of further disturbances. The general public, who have been lashed by the whip of Alexander’s intolerant and high-handed way of carrying things his own way, did not appear to feel any particular sorrow for his untimely end, but on the other hand, generally expressed a feeling of relief. Despite the comparative quiet, however, a strong guard has been posted about the palace to preclude any further attacks there.
A notable coincidence of the affair is that on this date, in 1868, Alexander’s great uncle was also assassinated.
The Final Chapter.
This morning’s tragedy is the final chapter in an eighty year contest between the Kara-Georgovitch and Obrenovitch families. The Kara-Georgovitch family came into power in 1807, when Kara-George, “Black George” who, beginning his life a peasant, gathered his own class about him in an insurrection, drove the Turks from the country, and had himself recognized as prince. He held the throne until 1817 when the Turks again secured control of the country, and placed Miloch, the first of the Obrenovitchs on the throne. Miloch was ruler until 1839, when he, in turn, was deposed by Black George, and forced to flee to the country. After a few years the Obrenovitch family again secured the upper hand and Black George was murdered. After the Obrenovitch rule had lasted for some years, the people became tired of their rule and elected Prince Alexander, the son of Black George, to the throne. His rule lasted for seventeen years, during which time in 1865, by the treaty of Paris, Servia was taken under the collective protection of the European powers. King Milan, of the Obrenovitch family, secured the throne in 1878, but abdicated in favor of his son King Alexander in 1889. Alexander was the last of his race.
Cause of the Revolution.
The causes precipitated this morning’s revolution were many, but back of it all could be seen popular hatred for Queen Draga. Ever since her marriage to Alexander her hand has been manifested in the rule of the country, and inasmuch as she was but one of the ladies of the court, and held a more or less subservient position at that, jealousy got in its work among the other court dignitaries, and quickly spread to the common people. Added to this was effort on several occasions to have one of her brothers appointed successor to the throne. While the Servian people had no serious objections to a change in dynasty now and then they did object strenuously to any of Draga’s family ruling them.
To add to the irritation growing in the popular mind, Alexander, on several occasions, took things completely away from the hands of the Skuptschina, the Servian parliament, even going so far recently as to completely abolish that body. He discovered his mistake in this matter however, and immediately reinstated the body. This salved the sore feelings of this country for a time, but urged on by Queen Draga, the King again took things in his own hands at the recent elections to parliament and by coercion and forged ballots secured a body which was purely ministerial. This, as has already been said, was the last straw and the outcome was appalling tragedy of the early morning.
PAGE FOUR—EDITORIAL.
“A Merciless Miscreant Among Nations.”
“A merciless miscreant among nations” is the term which the Brooklyn Eagle uses to characterize Servia [sic] in commenting upon the terrible atrocity that occurred in that country on Thursday night, and the appellation is well chosen. Continuing The Eagle says: A great deal is required to shock the world. It was, however, tremendously shocked by the assassinations at Belgrade on Thursday. A king, a queen, her two brothers, the ministry or cabinet of the kingdom, and the guards defending the persons of the rulers were killed in the national capital. The broken accounts to not agree as to the numbers slain. The estimate varies between twelve and twenty. News is history in the making. History will eventually give the correct details of the terrible event of which the accounts now naturally differ.
Agreement will be universal that the deed was as murderous, as thorough, and will be as profitless as cruel. It is called a revolution. It was really wholesale slaughter. It had none of the remedial character of a revolution. It changed no form of government. It executed no national mandate. It acted upon no progressive or reformatory, or even reactionary principle. It sought to affect a change of rulers which could have been done by exile. Extermination was substituted in defiance of every precedent of the nineteenth century and the twentieth in civilized Europe. Charles X was bowed out. Louis Philippe found exit easy. The life of the first Napoleon was not taken, and the third Napoleon died in his bed in the order of nature.
One has to go back to the Roman Empire or to recall the early period of the Romanoffs, or to recur to the palace intrigues by the Bosporus to find parallels of what was done at Belgrade on Thursday. The only compensation statesmen, journalists, moralists, and historians can find in the affair will be the full reporting of it. It will be advertised to an immortality of infamy. It already has been. All the world is incensed as well as amazed. Servia has written “outlaw” among nations on her own forehead.
The discrimination which opinion shows is suggestive. Concession that the King and Queen who were killed were a bad lot, admission that they came from a worse lot, conclusion that the dynastic set to be bayoneted in are no better, are not more marked than the conviction that none of those facts amounts to an extenuating circumstance in the fearful battue. That conviction is a gain. It stamps murder as no remedy, and misrule as no justification for murder. It stamps murder as n necessary or tolerable element in the right of revolution. It brands assassination as the crime of crimes, personal or public, political or individual. A recurrence to the fifteenth century in the twentieth arouses an indignation which shows that the moral opinion of mankind is sound.
PHILLIPS LIBRARY.
The Gift of the Late Hon. George W. Phillips of Homer, N. Y.
DEDICATED IN HOMER THURSDAY.
The Father's Plans Carried Forward by the Daughter—Impressive Ceremonies— The Presentation—The Acceptance—Remarks by Library Inspector—The Dedicatory Address by Rev. Wm. A. Robinson, D, D., of Middletown, N. Y.
Homer, June 12.—Although the weather last evening was not propitious, the citizens of Homer were present in large numbers at the dedicatory ceremonies of the Phillips Free library held in the Congregational church. The body of the church was well filled, while many were seated in the galleries. After the organ prelude by Mrs. W. H. Forster, Rev. Cyrus W. Negus, pastor of the Baptist church, offered prayer, taking the place upon the program of Rev. B. W. Hamilton, D. D., pastor of the M. E. church, who was unable to be present.
Mrs. A. L. Knight followed with a contralto solo, Longfellow’s “The Day is Done,” which she sang in a very effective and pleasing manner.
The Library Presented.
Rev. W. F. Kettle, pastor of the Congregational church in a few words then made the formal presentation of building to the board of trustees. He recalled how, some five years ago at the close of a Sunday service, during which he had pointed out the good men of wealth might to their fellow men, George W. Phillips came to him and requested an interview the following day. During the interview Mr. Phillips disclosed his lifelong ambition of giving to Homer a good public library. As Mr. Phillips’ wealth was not as great as it was generally thought to be it seemed impossible for him to erect a suitable building, and at the same time provide for its permanent maintenance. The matter was discussed for a time and then dropped from the public notice. About this time Mr. and Mrs. C. O. Newton, desiring to give some worthy institution to the town as a memorial for their son, Frank M. Newton, decided that they would like to build a library and present it to the town. When Mr. Phillips learned of their intention, he declared that if they erected the building, the cherished ambition of his lifetime would be crushed. Accordingly he went ahead and made plans for the structure, which his daughter Miss Ellen Phillips has bought to a successful ending. In behalf of Miss Phillips he presented the board of trustees of the library building, giving the key to the president of the board, C. O. Newton.
The Acceptance.
Mr. Newton, in behalf of District No. 1, Union Free School, accepted the gift in a few happy remarks. His words of acceptance follow.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Girls and Boys:
Standing her as your representative, I, for the trustees of the Phillips Free library association, accept the gift made by Miss Ellen Phillips in the name of her father George W. Phillips. It is the intent that it be opened to the use of the whole community and, being a free gift, it is hoped and desired that it may be used freely.
In accepting the gift we do so with the understanding that we assume all of the responsibilities that go with it, one of which is the endeavor to procure means of support. That in part has been done by the liberality of the taxpayers who have consented to give $750 each year until a permanent endowment fund is provided. The people of Homer have always been generous in their response for promoting instruction, and it is hoped and not doubted that this call will be fully met.
From small things greater ones grow. This library which we are here to dedicate to public use is the legitimate outgrowth of early beginnings. This town was settled largely by people from New England—the Keeps, the Hobarts, Hitchcocks, Bennetts, the Kingsburys, Samsons, and Bradfords, the Stones, Carpenters, and Barbers, the Pierces, Chamberlains and many others—and they brought with them the idea of free schools and free libraries—and soon both were established. Each school district had its small library. Among others there was one in the district at the north end of Main-st. This is the case in which the books were kept. (The case was shown on the platform.) Sixty years ago S. D. Newton was librarian, and the library at his home just opposite the schoolhouse was often visited by girls and boys. The difference between this case and the present new building is significant, and nothing shows more clearly the growth of the demand of library extension than this comparison. The seed has grown.
And now what is to be the fruit of this early planting? The answer lies in the hearts of our girls and boys for, if they use the privileges here opened for them—as it is expected they will—it will do much to help them fit themselves for future usefulness.
In the name of the trustees of the Phillips Free Library association, I return thanks to Miss Ellen Phillips who has so generously and successfully finished the plans begun by her father, and the people of Homer, and the girls and boys can in no way show their appreciation of so worthy a gift than by using it for purposes intended by the donors. Long may it stand in their remembrance with increasing helpfulness in the years to come.
Letters of Regrets.
At the close of these remarks Mr. Newton read a few letters of regrets at their inability to be present from former “Homerians,” including one from Theodore T. Munger, and one from Andrew D. White.
Herman W. Carver sang Bevan’s “The Flight of Ages” with fine effect.
Library Inspector Eastman.
Rev. W. F. Kettle then introduced William R. Eastman, M. A., library inspector of the board of regents, whom he had previously met while inspecting the library at Newark, N. Y.
Mr. Eastman, in a short address, said that he joined most heartily in the rejoicings over the library. He thought the location of the new structure opposite the time-honored academy a happy one, as one institution is the complement of the other, and neither is complete in itself.
Dr. Robinson’s Address.
At the conclusion of the address, President Newton introduced Rev. W. A. Robinson, D. D., of Middletown, N. Y., formerly of Homer, who made the dedicatory address. An outline of his impressive address follows.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Girls and Boys:
Permit me at the beginning of this address to congratulate most heartily the people of Homer upon the possession of this building. When this address was prepared I thought it was to be delivered in the library building. Standing here, where I stood for nearly twenty-one years, (not continuously but occasionally) seems like standing in one’s home and talking. Many changes have taken place since I last stood here. A new organ is in place, new windows have been put in; one thing remains the same and that is that there are good folks in Homer.
To return to the subject, I rejoice with you that the donor and his like-minded daughter have translated into so stately and attractive a reality those ideals and plans of by-gone days. Regret and sorrow are felt by us all, that he who planned and worked to make this dedication possible, in God’s ordering, is not permitted to be present.
There are three modern types of monuments to the memory of public benefactors: the memorial of a large endowment of school or college; the founding or endowing a hospital, or the providing for a public library. More durable than marble or brass are such monuments. Is it not a noble monument to the memory of Hon. George W. Phillips which his large-hearted public spirit and the generous and filial fidelity of his daughter have here erected? There is a striking fitness in the fact that in this place such a memorial should help to perpetuate the name of this public benefactor. Dr. Robinson then gave a little outline of Mr. Phillips’ career as teacher, superintendent of schools, successful business man, trustee of both village and academy, supervisor of this town, and [state] assemblyman. An earnest tribute was paid to the donor’s life and character, the speaker summing it up in the words, “One who feared God and kept his commandments.”
There is inwrought in this munificent gift, the profound convictions and noble ideals which the giver had gathered from his long and useful life. There is a value in dead building material, yet that value is small by the side of that material when touched by the genius of the architect and shaped by the skill of the builder. But a building like this has, not only such value, it has that other more inestimable and priceless value of the generous purpose, the noble intention and ideal, the broadminded aims, and the intelligent and well considered plans of the giver.
Let us then, as is fitting today, give attention to some of the benefits that flow from the existence and generous maintenance of a good free library in a community.
Such an institution at least helps to protect society from many evils. It provides the means of occupying the time and interest of many, and especially the young, with that which is wholesome and nutritious instead of that which is unhealthful and dissipating. If as David Harum intimates, it is better for a dog to have a few fleas than to brood over being a dog, it is bad for men or women to have nothing to take their attention from the routine and treadmill weariness and monotonous and unillumined life. People in this day will read something. Shall it be the poor trash which a teeming press casts out for the public? Or shall there be the ready opportunity and public intelligence which may set the fashion of reading the books which benefit and enrich the life? Then, further, I count it one of the great advantages of a good free library that it furnishes ample books of reference and treasures of systemized knowledge for the use of all.
Then again, a good library helps give range, and outlook and inspiration to many. Schiller has said well, “In a narrow circle the mind grows narrow. The more a man expands the larger his aims.” The quaint writer William Byrd declares the practical realm of fact, good reading, offers such a glass to the humblest and most shut in of its disciples.
“My minde to me a kingdom is;
Such perfect joy therein I finde
As fain exceeds all earthly blisse
That God or nature hath assigned;
Though much I want that most would have,
Yet still my minde forbids to crave.”
At the door or window of this building one may look forth across Main-st. upon the green, the schoolhouse, and the churches of one of the fairest of villages in Central New York. But the intelligent reader, who shall avail himself of the outlook furnished even by a small library, can bring within the range of his mental vision all ages and all lands.
And all which I have tried to say signifies this, that the Phillips Free Library will promote intelligent, broadminded, and true manhood and womanhood. Because of the assured worth of the Phillips Free Library in the better training of manhood and womanhood, we may well recognize the debt of gratitude due from this attractive building, and heartily may we join in unfeigned appreciation of this noble gift of Hon. George W. Phillips and family.
The benediction was pronounced by Dr. Robinson at the close of his address. At the close of the services large numbers availed themselves of the privilege of inspecting the Library building.
BREVITIES.
—Greenport, L. I ., is about to build a $25,000 addition to its high school. Frank J. Squires, formerly of Cortland, is the principle of this school.
—Sixteen Cortland ladies enjoyed a trip to Solon, N. Y., Thursday in two of Alderman Yager’s carryalls to visit the home of Miss Elizabeth Hatheway and to inspect her rare collection of paintings and curios.
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