The Cortland News, Friday, January 19, 1883.
CORTLAND AND VICINITY.
A well for fire purposes is being sunk on Elm
street near the crossing of the U. I. & E. R. R.
John
B. Gough lectures in Homer next Tuesday on "Blunders." It is hoped
that he will not blunder as Judge Tourgee did and fail to appear.
At
the State convention of the Empire Order of Mutual Aid, held at Syracuse Wednesday,
Rev. E. F. Pember, of Little Falls, was elected Grand Chaplain.
The
village [fire department] steamer has been taken to the manufacturers, Silsby
& Co., Seneca Falls, for general repairs. Another one has been loaned the
village for the time.
The
subject of the debate this Friday evening by the Normal Debating Club is: "Resolved,
That the electoral college should be abolished and the President elected by
popular vote."
Judge
Tourgee failed to make connections at Scranton. Pa., in time to lecture in
Homer on the 9th inst., and as this is the second time that he has disappointed
the citizens of that village, there is naturally much indignation felt.
Prominent
citizens of Syracuse have formed a society for the prevention of cruelty to
animals. Dwight K. Bruce, of the Journal, is President; Daniel Bookstaver
is Vice-President, and Rev. Richmond Fisk is Secretary and Treasurer.
Mr.
D. Eugene Smith left Cortland Saturday night and sailed from New York Tuesday.
We have the promise of Mr. Smith that he will correspond with THE NEWS, and as
the country which he visits is not known by personal observation to any of the
people of this section, and as Mr. S. is one who keeps his eyes and ears open,
his letters will be exceedingly interesting.
Our
genial and accommodating merchant occasionally gets a supply of oysters, which
he delivers to purchasers free of charge through his errand boy A. Cove. — Cor. DeRuyter Gleaner. Should that style of delivery be adopted by merchants here, we guess our citizens
would prefer going to the store
themselves for their oysters to
receiving them "through
the errand boy."
Mr. A.
K. Miller, until last Monday the local editor of the Cortland Standard, has
taken a position on the Syracuse Herald. A genial, pleasant gentleman,
and a ready writer, we predict that Mr. Miller will be successful in his new
field of labor, and that that part of the Herald with which he has to do
will be much improved. We wish him good health and prosperity.
Neither
snow nor frosts, wind nor rain seem to have any effect on Mr. Allard, agent of
the Syracuse Herald. He drives to the city Saturdays and returns Sunday
mornings with the Sunday edition of that paper in spite of all obstacles.
The
U. I. & E. railroad is now fully under its new managers [after bankruptcy and sale of assets--CC editor.] The present officers
are as follows: President, Austin Corbin; vice-president, E. K. Goodnow; secretary,
N. Dana Whipple; treasurer, Cornelius C. Cuyler. These gentlemen represent a
board of directors chosen by the London stockholders of the road, and have
entered upon the business of making the U. I. & E. property profitable to all
concerned, if general and efficient railway management can accomplish that
purpose.
Mr.
Robert Bushby has formed a co-partnership with Mr. W. P. Robinson for the
purpose of carrying on business at the old stand in the Calvert block. The
present stock of hats, caps, etc., will be closed out and an entirely different
class of goods put in. The store will be repaired, its style changed and improved,
and when painted, papered and sealed, will compare favorably with any other
business place in town. The firm of Robinson & Bushby has our best wishes
for its success.
The
large audiences which last Saturday evening witnessed the rendering of "Hazel
Kirke," and that of the same play last winter and of "The Professor" last fall, ought to
convince the Madison Square Theatre Company that the people of this section
will patronize whatever this Company may bring before them. The name is
synonymous with good plays and excellent acting, and we hope that "Esmeralda"
and “Young Mrs. Winthrop" will be presented here by the same company
before the winter passes.
A
rumor current in town that certain parties are considering the project of building
an opera house, the first floor of which shall not be much above the street, we
hope will prove to be founded on fact. The advantages of such a hall are
exceedingly apparent, and we are confident would receive all the patronage of
the public, of traveling companies as well as of domestic societies and political
and other conventions. Indeed, it would be from the first the favorite of everybody.
Give us the opera house.
Blodgett Mills.
Correspondence of THE NEWS,
Jan. 15, 1883.
Our
streets present a lively appearance of late, the ice man being engaged in gathering
the crop for the summer's use. The ice is of good quality and about eighteen
inches thick.
Mrs.
Mills had the misfortune to sprain her ankle in attempting to get on the cars [train or horse railroad--CC editor] in Cortland last week.
Old
Mr. Utley had a shock of palsy last Wednesday morning. He is in the care of Dr.
Smith, of McGrawville, and, we are informed,
is improving.
Mr.
Peter Low had a shock of paralysis last Tuesday and died in a few hours.
Our girls
should be less free with their dolls. They should not buy so many and at
the same place as to supply all the boys, or they may be found out.
Several
from this place attended court last week, being interested in either the Todhunter
or Brooks case.
Mr.
H. E. Andrews led the three o'clock meeting on Sunday.
Mr.
Hollenbeck is sick from the heart disease.
Glorifying Dr. Nelson at the Expense of Others.
“Mr.
Nelson is chairman of the committee on Public Health, one of the most important
and one of the largest committees of the Assembly. He is also a member of the
committee on State Charitable Institutions and of the Sub-Committee of the
Whole. This is the first time within our recollection, that a representative of
this county has been honored with the chairmanship of any committee, and it has
been seldom indeed that a member from this county has been considered of
sufficient importance to obtain even a respectable place on one of the minor
committees.”—Cortland Democrat.
In 1871 Hon. Henry S. Randall, who was Member
of Assembly from this county, was chairman of two committees—on Public
Education and on Joint Library, and member of the committee on Expenditures of
the House.
In
1867, Hon. Horatio Ballard, the then Member of Assembly, was a member of the
committee on Colleges, Academies and Common Schools, on the Sub-Committee of
the Whole, and on the Judiciary committee, the latter being more important than
all of Dr. Nelson's committees put together.
In
1881, Hon. A. A. Carley, Assemblyman, was a member of four committees—Banks, Affairs of Villages, Charitable
and Religious Societies, and Public Lands, which are certainly equal in importance
to any of the committees of which Dr. Nelson is a member.
These
facts we obtain from statistics at hand, and we presume that an examination of
the records would give as good a showing for other Assemblymen from Cortland
county.
The
fact is, Dr. Nelson was made chairman of a committee merely because he is a
Democratic member from a "doubtful" county, and this policy obtained
in the make-up of other committees.
As the
recollection of the editor of the Democrat does not extend so far in the
past as 1871, we must conclude either that his memory is failing or that he is
a great deal younger than he looks.
VILLAGE ORDINANCE.
The frequenting,
congregating or assembling, except for legitimate business purposes, at, within
or near any railroad depot, church, hall or other public place in the village
of Cortland, and all loafing, lounging, play or sport thereat, by any persons
under the age of twenty-one years is hereby prohibited.
The
breaking or injuring of any street lamp, and the hurling, throwing or
projecting of any missile against, at or toward any street lamp with mischievous
intent, is hereby forbidden.
Any
person convicted of violating either of the foregoing ordinances, shall be punished
by a fine of not exceeding five dollars, and may also be committed to the county
jail of Cortland county not exceeding five days or until the fine is paid.
WASHINGTON LETTER.
Correspondence of THE NEWS.
Washington, D. C., Jan. 15, 1883.
There
will never be an end to the agitation of the pension subject in Congress so
long as there are claim agents in Washington to stir the matter up. It cannot
be honestly disputed that the Government has treated with almost profligate
liberality those who suffered injuries through their service in the late war.
The justice and propriety of this there are few to deny, even though a large
percentage of the money thus paid by Uncle Sam has gone to liquidate fraudulent
claims and found its way into the coffers of claim agents, some of whom have
thereby grown immensely rich in a few years.
But
granting that what has already been done is right, there is no reasonable
demand for further action. Since the present session convened innumerable
petitions asking an increase of the pension rate and a change in existing pension
laws have been coming into Congress. It appears from an examination of these documents
that the body of the petitions were printed here and distributed throughout the
country for signatures. The petitions are alike in form and substance, and it
is intimated that they originated with some of the more disreputable Washington
claim agencies, which sent them broadcast over the land with the request that
they be filled up and forwarded to members of Congress. The whole purpose of
this is to keep the pension business alive for the benefit of these claim
agents.
Another proposition, backed by the same influence, is the bill for the
equalization of bounties lately introduced by Representative Steele, of
Indiana. It is a further move in the direction of expensive generosity, though
doubtless proposed in good faith and having an element of equal justice as a
basis. The proposition is that every non-commissioned officer, musician,
artificer, wagoner and private soldier, sailor or marine, including those borne
on the rolls as slaves and Indians, who served in the late war and was
honorably discharged shall receive $8.33 1-3 a month for all the time he served
between April 12, 1861, and May 9, 1865. This is $400 to each soldier who
served four years and received no bounty. There is doubt about the passage of
this bill, now or at any other time.
Not
very much is said about the Star-route trial now in progress, because as yet
there has been no specially exciting episode, and the evidence being taken at
this stage is of a routine character. Nothing can be arrived at as to the probable
result of the trial except a judgment based on general principles and a putting
of this and that together. As the twelve men in the jury box, supposed to be
good and true citizens, are to be the final judges of both the law and the
facts in this important trial, public interest naturally turns to them. They
are, with but few exceptions, men of very moderate intelligence, and some of
them evidently far below mediocrity.
Eight
of the jurors are white and four are colored, the colored jurors having been accepted
from the regular panel, while four of the white are talesmen, summoned to the
ungracious task by Marshal McMichael. The jury, as a whole, looks to be quite
below the average, and it lacks what is usually noticeable in juries—some apparently
intelligent and controlling minds. It may seem harsh to prejudge the new Star-route
jury, but I must record that to me they do not appear to be men suited to the
work—men capable of trying such a case where all the appliances of money, influence
and legal acumen are to be employed to defeat justice.
It
seems that under all the circumstances we must look for little less than a miracle
to compass a conviction of Dorsey and Brady. The Star-route combination
ramifies everywhere in this city. It has its fingers and toes in the departments,
in the hotels, and its feelers extend to barbers, coachmen, servants and
boot-blacks and every channel where men of any grade can be made useful. The
colored jurors, all of whom are in straitened circumstances, and one of whom
earns a precarious living by day labor, will be reached and tempted in a hundred
ways, and when such men, who have never owned $500 in their lives, and who have
no great amount of reputation to lose, can be tempted with tens of thousands,
is it reasonable to expect any conviction? They may prove stronger than the
wealth they never dreamed of possessing, or they may be intimidated by fear of
punishment; but it will be a marvel, indeed, if a jury with little intelligence
to guide them and little character to lose, as a rule, shall be able to
maintain the majesty of justice in her own sanctuary.
If
any American doubts that this is a Republic let him come to Washington and see
our great men riding about in the street cars. On Pennsylvania avenue a day or
two since I saw three Justices of the Supreme Court, Bradley, Matthews and Harlan,
hanging on to the straps in a three-cent bob-tail car, every seat was occupied
by negro workmen from the Navy Yard. The Justices passed up tickets and played
conductors for the workmen with great amiability.
For several
days past the Capital has been in a state of carnival. Those who could not do
better had lots of fun coasting on the sidewalks, and being drawn up and down,
with an occasional pitch into the snow-banks of the gutters. The merry laughter
of these pleasure seekers mingled with the jingle of the sleigh bells and filled
the night air with the music of fun and jollity that fell pleasantly upon the
ear. The greatest animation prevailed on the Avenue, which seemed to be the
favorite drive of the sleigh riders, and the fun was kept up into the night. The
sidewalks were lined with spectators, who watched the swiftly gliding sleighs,
filled with gay parties, and seemed to extract a great deal of pleasure from
it. The devices employed to rig up some sort of a contrivance that would go on
runners was calculated to excite the admiration of the spectators, and in some
cases their laughter. Looks were regarded as nothing, so long as the thing
would go. Accounts from south of here report the snow storm the heaviest in
that section for years.
The
social event of the last week was the marriage of Senator Cameron's daughter to
an army officer. It was a "bang up" wedding.
The
small pox reports from Baltimore have created something of a scare here and our
health department is taking precautionary measures. Inspectors have been placed
at the depots, and passengers are closely scrutinized upon landing, while each
turnpike leading to the city is watched by policemen.
JUNIUS.
Star route scandal:
