STORY OF THE RODDAM, COAL STRIKE, BURNED TO DEATH, FIREMEN'S CONVENTION, NEW DIRECTORY, AND DIED IN SEMPRONIUS, N. Y.

 

Brtitish steamship Roddam anchored at Castries, St. Lucia.

Cortland Evening Standard, Monday, May 19, 1902.

STORY OF THE RODDAM.

Captain Freeman Tells of the Terrible Experience.

IS IN HOSPITAL AT ST. LUCIA.

Roddam Just Arrived and Anchored at St. Pierre When the Eruption Took Place—Volumes of Red Hot Matter Fell on Vessel, Burning Ship and Killing and Injuring Men.

   New York, May 19.—The Norton line steamer Etona, Captain Cantell, arrived here from the River Plata, via St. Lucia, where she called for bunker coal on May 10.

   "At St. Lucia on May 11," said Captain Cantell, "I went on board of the British steamer Roddam, which had escaped from the terrible volcanic eruption at Martinique three days before.

   "The ship was covered with a mass of fine bluish grey dust or ashes of cement-like appearance. In some parts it lay two feet deep on the decks. This matter had fallen in a red hot state all over the steamer, setting fire to everything it struck that was burnable, and when it fell on the men on board burned off limbs and large pieces of flesh. This was shown by finding portions of human remains when the decks were cleared of the debris.

   "The rigging, ropes, tarpaulins, sails and awnings were charred or burned and most of the upper stanchions and spars had been swept overboard or destroyed by the fire. Skylights were smashed and cabins were filled with volcanic dust.

   "I visited the captain of the Roddam in the hospital at St. Lucia, where he gave me an account of his terrible experience. He had just arrived and anchored at St. Pierre, Martinique, on the morning of Thursday, May 8.

   "The captain was standing near the accommodation ladder talking to the vessel's agent, who had come on board, when he saw what appeared to be an enormous black cloud, like a wall with patches of fire in it, approaching the sea from the land. With it came an immense tidal wave of boiling water, accompanied by a loud and terrible noise. He shouted 'take shelter' to the crew. Immediately the steamer was caught and tossed over on her side, almost capsizing. Darkness fell like a pall and volumes of red hot matter showered down, while the air was thick with sulphurous [sic] fumes and dust. The sea was a confused mass of boiling mud.

Ship Was Set On Fire.

   "Fire broke out in different parts of the ship. Screams, groans and shouts of agony from the injured people, mingled with the terrible noise of boiling water and rushing air, together with the falling fire, caused a most horrible confusion and frightful din. This shock lasted for a few minutes.

   "The captain of the Roddam, knowing that his vessel had steam up, and instantly realizing the necessity of escape, rushed to the engine room annunciator and signalled below to start the engines at full speed.

   "The terrific tidal wave which had swept over the Roddam and nearly capsized her, had parted the cable and the vessel was adrift. When the engines started it was found that the steering gear had become disabled in some manner and could not be worked.

   "For more than an hour the Roddam's engines were worked, backing and going ahead, with the hope of bringing her head toward the sea and away from land. Once she got dangerously near the steamer Roraima. Both vessels were in flames. Some of those aboard jumped into the boiling water; some fell dying to the deck. All this time the red hot matter was falling and the water was hissing and steaming dense masses of vapor. Smoke and dust filled the air and poisonous fumes spread about.

Steering Gear Disabled.

   "After some time the Roddam's steering gear moved a little and enabled the captain to head her out to sea and with considerable difficulty he managed to steer her a little distance from the land. As the air cleared the scene on board of the ill-fated Roddam became all the more ghastly. The ship steamed on through thick hot dust. The screams from the injured became more audible. Some rushed frantically about with their clothes on fire and large pieces of flesh burned from their arms; others in their agony lay writhing in the red hot dust.

   "In about two hours the air became gradually clear. An investigation of the casualties on board showed that besides the captain, who was frightfully injured, only two engineers, two sailors and the boatswain were able to do duty.

   "Fire was still burning about the ship and the rigging was in flames. The captain decided to try to reach the Island of St. Lucia, 45 miles distant. This he succeeded in doing by 6 o'clock on the evening of May 8. The steamer was difficult to handle owing to the partially disabled steering gear which could not be made to work properly. In the time occupied on this terrible voyage the experience of the survivors was still worse than that already gone through. The brave captain and his few men fighting the fire exhausted and scalded, struggled and worked trying to do something to assist their dying shipmates. Those working below strived to keep up the steam.

   "The captain, suffering the greatest agony, succeeded in navigating his vessel safely to the port of Castries, St. Lucia, with 18 dead bodies lying on the deck and human limbs scattered about. A sailor stood by constantly wiping the captain's injured eyes.

   "I think the performance of the Roddam's captain was most wonderful and the more so when I saw his pitiful condition. I don't understand how he kept up; yet when the steamer arrived at St. Lucia and medical assistance was procured, this brave man asked the doctors to attend to the others first and refused to be treated until this was done.

   "My interview with the captain brought out this account. I left him in good spirits and receiving every comfort. The sight of his face would frighten anyone not prepared to see it.

   "We sailed from St. Lucia on the morning of May 11, and at 2 o'clock in the afternoon passed the island of Martinique. The weather was perfectly clear, and we had a good view of that part of the island which had suffered by the volcanic eruption a few days before. The formation of the island is quite altered and the whole northern part where the town of St. Pierre once stood is covered with a mass of ashes and lava.

   "At about 2:30 o'clock, as the Etona was passing the island a tremendous upshoot of smoke and dust took place and in a few moments the ship was covered with fine dust-like cement. We were about three miles distant from the island at the time. The ship's engines were put under full speed and for a time considerable anxiety was felt on board. For an hour or two the ship was covered with dust and enveloped in a thick cloud, and the air was filled with sulphur fumes. It must have been another eruption and the dust must have been sent a great distance in the air because it traveled against the wind and at a tremendously rapid rate."

 

DEATHS AT ST. VINCENT.

Sixteen Hundred—Four Thousand Destitute—Aid for Six Months.

   Washington, May 19.—The United States consul at Barbadoes wired the state department this morning as follows:

   "Barbadoes, May 19.— Sixteen hundreds deaths on St. Vincent; 4,000 destitute. Immediate wants supplied. Aid needed for six months. This authentic.''

 

PAGE FOUR—EDITORIAL.

The Coal Strike.

   The New York Sun makes the following very fair and impartial comment upon the present coal strike, saying " The coal strike just undertaken may be the most disastrous in its effect on industry that this country has ever known. At this time the man or newspaper attempting to give a false aspect and a vicious purport to the contest by appealing to passion, is either not wise or no friend of the community. The points of the contest are so simple and so clear that they afford no room for misunderstanding and no excuse for misinterpretation. They put to shame the demagogue who would have the public pronounce in favor of the strikers merely because they are poorer than the presidents of the great companies with which they have quarreled. If all disagreements in buying and selling, of which this is but an instance, were to be decided in favor of the man with the fewer dollars in his pocket our system of law and justice would vanish.

   Those commonly known as miners, the strikers in this instance, are also employers. They employ other men to do the rough work for them, to whom they pay a portion of the wages—ranging from $10 to $15 a day—that they receive from the railroads, having left for themselves something between $4 and $5 a day, after they have paid for their tools and powder. In the eyes of the under-miner, the sub-employee, his employer's wages is so great that he thinks he should have a greater share, just as laborers generally demand higher wages when they see their employer's profits increasing.

   Of this subterranean dispute the public has heard little. There has been no appeal to the civic federation, no request for arbitration. The miners have refused to share their stipend, but have attempted to satisfy the demand made upon their own employers; and upon this the fight is joined.

   The railroad presidents, considering first the interests of the property they represent, decline the miner's terms, and their right to do so is rightfully as perfect and as inviolable as was the right of the miners to refuse the demands of their helpers, or as is the right of the helpers or any other men to refuse to buy a hat.

   Something remains to be said about the effect of this strike. In the last two weeks we have had a very fervent agitation about the price of beef. Scared columns upon columns of newspapers have denounced the "Beef Barons" as inhuman, and the processes of the federal government have been set in motion to punish them as criminal, as conspirators banded together to fleece their fellows. Yet the trouble arising from the great price of beef is not a drop to a bucketful compared to the trouble that must follow the rise which this strike has already caused in the price of coal. The agreement between the beef merchants is denied, and on its face is theoretical; while the miners' union is avowed and directed with every formality that marks a monopoly controlled by some central power.

   In saying this we are not speaking in prejudice against the strikers. We are merely citing facts which it is incumbent upon the public clearly and fully to appreciate. The rise in the price of beef is already disturbing industry in all directions, like a violent rise in the price of bread; but the greater the cost of coal is of incomparably wider and more serious effect.

   If the miners control the labor market absolutely, the fact will soon be seen by the railroads, and the later will yield the case, though otherwise the coal companies will obtain other workmen and begin business anew. And the more impartially the contest is treated by the public and the more jealously and rigorously the laws and all rights existing under them are upheld the sooner and the more advantageously for the public will the contest be ended.

  

BURNED TO DEATH.

Mrs. Charles Darling of Virgil, N. Y., Was the Victim.

HELPING HUSBAND BURN BRUSH.

Clothing Caught Fire—Lady Over 80 Years of Age—Daughter Badly Burned in Trying to Save Her Mother—Leaves a Husband and Six Children.

   Mrs. Charles Darling of Virgil, a highly respected old lady of 80 years, was Saturday afternoon helping her husband burn the brush of some willows which had been cut when her clothing caught fire. She was so badly burned that death followed on Sunday morning. One of her daughters was so badly burned in trying to save her mother and in her efforts to extinguish the flames in her mother's clothing that it is feared that she will lose both of her hands. Mrs. Darling is survived by her husband and six children.

 

REFRIGERATOR CARS

To be Run Over the Lackawanna Railroad Twice a Week.

   Shippers of butter, cheese, eggs and other perishable freight will be pleased to learn that the Lackawanna railroad is to put on again this year the special fast freight refrigerator service to New York, Newark, etc., which met with such general favor with shippers and receivers last season. Cars will be run under ice from points east of Owego, including that city, and on the Syracuse and Utica divisions to Scranton, Newark and Pier 41, New York City.

   This service will be begun on Thursday, May 22, and will continue on Tuesday and Thursday of each week, arriving at eastern destination on Wednesday and Friday mornings, respectively.

   A special time schedule has been prepared, and all agents will furnish information concerning the handling of this important traffic.

 

Fire Chief E. N. Sherwood.

FIREMEN'S CONVENTION

Would Like to Come to Cortland Again This Year.

IT WAS HERE LAST IN 1898.

Cortland Must Raise a Big Bundle if it Comes—Committee to Solicit Appointed by Chief of Fire Department—Rain Could Not Interfere With Parade Now As It Did Before.

   Chief E. N. Sherwood of the Cortland fire department has been informed by President Frank Cole of the Central New York Volunteer Firemen's association and the executive committee of the association that Cortland may have the next annual convention, which is held during the early part of August. The convention will be accepted by the Cortland fire department, provided that the business men of the city will donate sufficient funds to carry the project through.

   A meeting of the board of engineers has been held, and Chief Sherwood was appointed chairman of a committee to take charge of the preliminary arrangements. Mr. Sherwood has named for this committee a member from each company as follows: No. 1, H. L. deClercq; No. 2, M. E. Sarvay; No. 3, R. E. Caldwell; No. 4. M. T. Roche; No. 6, M. L. Withey. This committee will soon begin an active canvas among the business men of the city, and Chief Sherwood will be ready to make his report to the executive committee of the association at its meeting in Ithaca May 31, at which time a place for holding the convention will be fixed.

   The association was held in Cortland in 1898, and a larger crowd was in attendance, but the last day was very rainy, and the parade was abandoned. At that time Cortland had no asphalt pavements, and in all the place did not show up to as good an advantage as it would now. No matter how rainy it might be, a parade could now be conducted on Cortland's excellent pavements.

   The last convention was held in Auburn in 1900, and was a great success. Last year there was none on account of the Pan-American exposition.

   The Central New York Volunteer Firemen's-association is made up of forty companies in the counties of Cortland, Broome, Tioga, Tompkins and Cayuga. These companies are finely uniformed and equipped. The most of them take to the annual convention a band, and these bands are among the best in the state. The convention is generally in session for three days.

 

THE NEW DIRECTORY.

Canvass of the City of Cortland Begins this Week.

   E. A. Tripp of DeRuyter with three assistants will at once begin the canvass of the city of Cortland for the new directory which is to be published by George Hanford of Elmira who has prepared many directories throughout this vicinity, and who succeeds the late Samuel Parsons as the publisher for Cortland.

 

Died in Sampronius, N. Y.

   Mrs. N. J. Henry died at her home in Sempronius this morning about 2 o'clock, aged 61 years. She is survived by her husband, two sons, Frank and Earl Henry, and one daughter, Mabel. Mrs. Henry was formerly a resident of Homer. Funeral services will be held at the home in Sempronius, Wednesday at 3 p. m. to be conducted by Rev. C. W. Negus, pastor of the Homer Baptist church and the remains will be brought to Homer for burial.

 

BREVITIES.

   —There will be no choir rehearsal at the Congregational church tonight.

   —There will be a special meeting of Iskoot council, D. of P., in Red Men's hall tonight at 7 o'clock.

   —A forecasting station of the United States weather bureau is to be established at Syracuse university.

   —New display advertisements today are— Gas Light Co. Gas ranges, page 8; S. Simmons, Clothing, page 6.

   —About one person each day on the average is arrested and fined $1 for bicycle riding in violation of the city ordinances.

   —A regular communication of Cortlandville lodge, No. 470, F. & A. M., will be held in the lodge rooms Tuesday evening.

   —There will be a meeting of the Woman's Relief Corps tomorrow afternoon at 3 o'clock at G. A. R. hall. A large attendance is earnestly requested.

   —There will be a meeting of the Congregational church and society this evening at 7:30 o'clock. All members of the church and society are urged to be present.

   —The new Lehigh Valley passenger train between Elmira and Auburn made its first trip today. The connecting train between Freeville and Cortland arrived here at 1:10 p. m., exactly on time, and returned at 3:40. It carried a large number of passengers.

   —The rain which began at about 3 o'clock this morning and which broke the long draught was most acceptable. It fills a much needed want. Every crop needed rain, grass was drying up and the roads were decidedly dirty. The whole face of nature is changed by the rain.

 

LAGRANGE POINTS IN SPACE AND MARS CURIOSITY ROVER

 

THE TRUMP CARD, RICHARD CROKER, VANISHED RACE, EDWIN YAGER'S BIRTHDAY, AND BACK IN THE OLD PLACE

 

Cortland Evening Standard, Saturday, May 17, 1902.

THE TRUMP CARD.

The Effort to Call Out All the Soft Coal Miners.

THAT MIGHT DECIDE THE STRIKE.

Doubts, However, Whether These Miners Would Go Out on a Sympathetic Strike—Are Under Contract for a Year Still and Are Wholly Satisfied—National Convention May Be Called.

   Hazleton, Pa., May 17.—Hope that the 300,000 union bituminous miners of the country will consent to join the ranks of the 147,000 striking anthracite men in this state, is the rock upon which the leaders of the strike are building visions of victory today. It is a trump card. To affect it and thereby stop the wheels of industry of the entire country, shutting off totally their production of all coal, would probably mean ultimate success for the strikers. But to call out all the soft coal diggers at this time will, it is admitted, take heroic measures. The great army of bituminous men in Ohio, Western Pennsylvania and other middle western states, are now under contract for a year with their employers and for them to join the ranks of the anthracite men would mean the breaking of a yearly contract, which they secured after hard labor and which the anthracite men are now trying to affect for themselves.

   According to statements of Herman Justis, commissioner of the Illinois Coal Operators' association, who is here, the bituminous rank and file will not go out on strike even though a national convention should so order. Mr. Justis' position naturally would influence him to such belief, but he declared today that his expressed opinion was unbiased and was based solely upon his knowledge of the comparatively contented feeling prevailing among the bituminous miners of the West.

   President Mitchell refuses to discuss the probability or possibility of a sympathetic strike of soft coal men. When informed of Commissioner Justis' statements, he smiled and said, "I don't care to discuss it."

   No time nor place has yet been set for the proposed national convention, but it will likely be held at Indianapolis soon.

   If a general strike is ordered President Mitchell said today 449,000 mine employees will be affected.

   The situation this morning remains quiet. With the exception of about fifty men employed in washeries of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western mines and the engineers, pumpmen and firemen in all collieries, the industry is entirely suspended.

   Later today it was learned that Cleveland is being favorably considered as the place for the national convention. It is considered a little more central than Indianapolis for both soft and hard coal miners.

 

TROUBLE HAS BEGUN.

Non-union Miners Driven Out with Clubs and Stones.

   Wilkesbarre, Pa., May 17.—The first outbreak of trouble occurred at Smithville, near here last night when 100 union foreign miners drove non-union men, operating a washery of the Erie Coal company from work. Clubs and stones were used. An Italian workman was seriously injured.

 

Richard Croker.

INTERVIEW WITH CROKER.

Says That He Has Ceased to Meddle In New York Politics.

   London, May 16.—Richard Croker began an interview concerning the affairs of the Tammany Society with an emphatic protest that he had ceased to meddle in New York politics. "Thirty-seven years of political fighting is enough for one life," he said, "and I am done with it, I tell you at once and for all. I am settled here to make the most of my remaining years and I am spinning them out as long as possible. I am not going to New York again this year. It will be a novelty to me to spend a year round in England. Of course I shall go to New York some time to see my friends, but never again to take part in politics."

   When asked about the Nixon affair, Mr. Croker said:

   "There is nothing to conceal. I am very sad that there should be such trouble in Tammany. I can only imagine that Nixon found the place too hard and was unable to lead the boys. I can conceive of no other reason for this step, which I did foresee and which I deeply deplore."

   "They say," said Mr. Croker's interviewer," that it is your fault, that you tried to boss the boss and that he would not stand it?"

    "There is not a word of truth in it," replied Mr. Croker, and he proceeded to explain that Robert A. Van Wyck's candidacy for the post of grand sachem in no way concerned the political organization of Tammany.

   Mr. Croker admitted the possibility that his views might have been misrepresented but he insisted that he had never authorized any one to say anything to encourage the revolt against Nixon or to make it difficult for Nixon to fulfill his duties.

   "It is monstrous to lay the blame of his abandonment of an office which he finds to be more than he can manage upon my shoulders," said Mr. Croker.

   In conclusion Mr. Croker expressed the hope that Nixon would return to office, but he declined any expression of opinion as to who was competent to replace him as leader, declaring: "They must find somebody who is able to keep the boys together. If they don't, everything is lost and they will succeed best if left to themselves."

 

PAGE FOUR—EDITORIAL.

A Vanished Race.

   The eruption of Soufriere volcano on the Island of St. Vincent, says the Utica Observer, added the finishing touches to a tragedy that has been enacting in the Caribbees for centuries. In a little valley near the slopes of Soufriere there lived the remnant of a once powerful tribe of Indians, the Caribs. When Columbus came to this country the Caribs dominated the north coast of South America and the islands skirting the Caribbean sea. They were a fierce and war like race of red Indians. In battle they were relentless and cruel, but with a kind of thrift associated with laziness they treated their prisoners well, making slaves of them and often marrying the women. In this way the race was constantly changing. It did not begin to deteriorate, however, until after the importation of African slaves, when there sprang up a race known as black Caribs.

   When the Spaniards conquered and occupied the Antilles they at first tried to enslave the Caribs. This they found impossible of accomplishment, so they began that other process, extermination. Gradually the Caribs yielded before the superior race, and in one island after another they disappeared. With them disappeared the picturesque nomenclature of the islands and in its place came the hideous style of designation so common to Spanish countries, with its confusing duplication of St. This and St. That. It was much the same in the islands occupied by the English. Long and bloody wars were fought and the Caribs, reduced to a mere handful, disappeared save in their last stronghold, the Island of St. Vincent. This island the Spaniards had not deemed worth the cost of conquest, and the English, when they took possession, gave the Caribs a small reservation in the mountains. Here they lived, and intermarried with fugitive slaves. But these black Caribs are said to have been nearer the original type than any other descendants of the race. There is a branch of the tribe in Honduras, but so degenerate is it that it is scarcely recognizable. Hence those black Caribs on the Island of St. Vincent may be regarded as practically the last of their race.

   Dispatches from Martinique inform us that of the 2,000 victims of Soufriere volcano, the majority are said to be Carib Indians. This means that the race has been practically exterminated, that it has vanished from the face of the earth. A people once feared by all who knew them, a tribe that dominated all the country 'round about, a race of free booters who drew their subsistence from whatever people crossed their path—they have faded and disappeared before as superior civilization. And it was a fitting end, too. They perished not by the hand of man or by the insidious inroads of disease, but in one of nature's greatest cataclysms. Grand and terrible was their fate. They yielded only to a force no mortal man could combat.

 

Judge Rowland Davis.

JOB ON THE ALDERMAN.

Associates Knew of His Birthday—He Had Forgotten all About It.

   Yesterday was Alderman Edwin M. Yager's 42nd birthday, and his fellow council men are glad that it was, in fact, they would not oppose a resolution giving the genial representative of the First ward two or more of these in one year, provided as good a time were promised upon each occasion as was furnished them yesterday. Alderman Yager was the victim of a well formed plan on the part of Mrs. Yager to give her husband and his associates on the [Cortland] city board a drive to Little York and return, with a chicken pie supper at the Raymond House.

   There assembled at the office of City Judge R. L. Davis, about 5 o'clock in the evening, Mayor Charles F. Brown, Alderman E. R. Wright, Geo. F. Richards, T. C. Scudder. R. S. Pettigrew, Vern W. Skeele, Mr. Davis and a Standard man. Mr. Yager, who, as is well known, is a liveryman, and had been asked by Judge Davis to come to his office with his three seated trap to take a party of gentlemen to Little York, urging that he, himself, should drive the rig. This was Mrs. Yager's plan.

   When the rig reached the office the party stepped out much to the alderman's surprise. "What does this mean?" he asked in astonishment.

   "Well, Ed," said the judge, "how old are you, anyhow?"

   This explained the situation, and the First ward representative tumbled forthwith.

   The day was glorious for a drive, and back of Mr. Yager's fine span of blacks the trip was most enjoyable for the city dignitaries. When beyond Homer a dense cloud of smoke was seen to rise from Mount Topping, and Alderman Skeele insisted that the famous peak was in a state of eruption. A closer examination, however, showed that fierce fire in the woods was causing the remarkable amount of smoke to rise.

   Little York was reached and supper at the Raymond House was ready, thanks again to Mrs. Yager's foresight. It was of course one of the chicken pie suppers for which the house is noted. And what a chicken pie supper it was! There was only one thing better than the chicken, and that was the delicious strawberry shortcake that Mrs. Raymond served after every blessed alderman, and the mayor too, had finished up two plates of chicken, Mr. Lucius Davis and Mr. Fred Hollister, who had driven to Little York ahead of the other party, joined in at the supper table, and they were not a bit slow there either.

   It was a quiet crowd that was visiting the lake, but somehow D. T. Bodish, the popular merchant of Little York, got wind of the personal of the party, and a box of fine cigars was at the disposal of the officials when they had completed supper. The lake enticed all to the shore, and some of the crowd went out on its surface in row boats. The cottages of Dr. E. M. Santee and Jas. A. Wood of this city were visited.

   At twilight the return trip was made, but the springs to the trap, that in going up had stood wide apart, now jolted together and seemed strained under the greater weight. Perhaps that good supper had a great deal to do with the way they acted. Cortland was reached at 9 o'clock.

   After supper in Little York, Judge Davis in well framed phrases, presented Alderman Yager on behalf of the gentlemen of the party with a set of eight volumes of the work of Victor Hugo, which were received by Mr. Yager with words of surprise and satisfaction.

 

Conservatory Recital.

   The following is the program for the weekly recital at the Conservatory of Music:

   Vocal Duet—I Waited for the Lord, Mendelsohn

   Misses Pearson and Hubbard.

   (Miss Tickner.)

   Piano—In Summer, Severin

   Miss Suzanne McGraw.

   Oratory—Prodigal Son, Mrs. Edith Łatimer

   Vocal—Mighty lak' a Rose, Nevin

   Miss Rema Reckhan.

   (Mr. Wellman.)

   Violin—Andanted Finale (Concerto in E Minor, Mendelssohn

   Miss Addie Rynders.

   Vocal—Absent, Metcalf

   Miss Mabel Collins.

   (Miss Tickner.)

   Caprice de Concert for Two Pianos, Remand

   Misses Rynders, O'Connell, McConnell, and Collins.

 

Notice "Singer" sign posted on Standard building at street level just above the horse drawn streetcar. The Singer Sewing Machine office was on the second floor just above the sign.

Back in the Old Place.

   Mr. C. W. Lyman has resumed the management of the local office of the Singer Sewing Machine company. Mr. Charles Garrity, who has had charge of the office, is going to Seneca Falls, N. Y.

 

BREVITIES.

   —About thirty members of the Agonian fraternity of the Normal school are enjoying a trip to Little York lake today.

   —The funeral services of Mrs. Charles Sprague, who died at her home in Blodgett Mills yesterday, will be held from the house at 1:30 o'clock tomorrow afternoon. Interment at McGraw.

   —The funeral of Mrs. Margaret L. Flanagan, who died at her home, 9 Hubbard-st., at noon yesterday, will be held from the residence at 7:45 o'clock Monday morning and at St. Mary's church at 8:15.

   —New display advertisements today are—Smith & Beaudry, Cleveland Bicycles, page 5; Gas Light Co., Gas Ranges, page 7; C. F. Thompson, Butter, page 6; C. F. Brown, Dandruff cure, page 6; Corner Grocery, Grape fruit, etc., page 6; Carriage Goods Co., Coaster brake, page 6.

 

PLENTY OF WARNING, LA SOUFRIERE'S WORK, TROUBLE ANTICIPATED, AND LOCAL CORTLAND NEWS

 

Mont Pelee eruption, May, 1902.

Cortland Evening Standard, Friday, May 16, 1902.

PLENTY OF WARNING

Before the Final Great Eruption of Mont Pelee.

EVEN DUMB ANIMALS HEEDED IT.

But Human Beings Remained and Were Destroyed—Ancient Tradition of the Wiping Out of the Carib Indians—Story of a Survivor.

   Fort De France, May 16.—The few St. Pierre residents who escaped from the doomed city before Mount Pelee shot forth her death breath, tell stories of the warnings which the inhabitants had, but did not take. Early in April some say that the wild animals left the vicinity of Pelee, even snakes, which were ordinarily in great numbers on the slopes, deserting them. Cattle showed uneasiness and dogs barked at night and sought the company of their masters, showing every sign of fear. Late in April rumbling sounds were heard, but Mount Pelee had been so long dormant that the people in the valleys laughed at the warnings.

   People who have visited St. Pierre have noticed that in many cases bodies were untouched by fire. An explanation of this and of the fact that so few escaped is offered. It is believed that the volcano first threw off great quantities of gas which swept over the city, rendering the inhabitants unconscious. Then followed the streams of flaming lava which finished the work of death and razed the city. One person, who was taken from a ship in the harbor, says that before the eruption he felt faint.

   The annihilation of the Carib Indians by the eruption fulfills an ancient prediction that the tribe would be sacrificed to the fire god, which they worshipped. The Caribs were the race found by Columbus four centuries ago, and the race is now practically extinct.

   Mr. Albert, who managed an estate a mile from Pelee's crater, escaped with his family to the seashore where they boarded a small steamer and reached Fort De France. Albert says that before the eruption there were thunderous noises and almost a gale. Terror stricken he called his family and they rushed to the shore. He witnessed the convulsion of the volcano as the steamer drew away and saw new craters seemingly open on the sides.

 

LA SOUFRIERE'S WORK.

All Life on North Half of St. Vincent Destroyed.

ANOTHER ERUPTION PREDICTED.

Continuous Agitation of Volcanic Craters—Physical Changes—2,000 Deaths Reported—Bodies Found In Lifelike Attitudes—Decomposed Bodies In Many Houses—Destitution.

   Kingston, Island St. Vincent, Monday, May 12.—Scientists who have come here from the British island of Trinidad predict another volcanic eruption on St. Vincent within a short time.

   The damage done to St. Vincent by the volcanic eruptions is now known to be considerably greater than was at first estimated. The present uneasiness of the inhabitants of the island is increased by the continuous agitation of the volcanic craters. Friday morning, May 9, large stones and volcanic dust fell in the neighborhood of Georgetown for two hours, terrifying the people there. A cloud of hot vapor then passed over that port. Two eruptions of less magnitude than the first occurred Saturday, May 10, and from then until today fire and smoke have been ascending, at intervals, from the craters.

   Owing to the great heat it is still impossible to approach the Soufriere volcano from the leeward side.

   Interesting discoveries have been made in regard to the physical changes on St. Vincent resulting from the eruptions. Several fissures have been observed on La Soufriere. The estate of Walibou has disappeared and has been replaced by an inlet of the sea.

   Richmond, an estate formerly adjacent to Walibou, which was formerly flat and upon which there were a number of laborers' cottages, has been completely burned, and out of the estate there now arises a large ridge of ground. It is believed that the Rabacci crater, in the windward district of the island, has also erupted.

   From a distance La Soufriere, although less violent, still wears a cap of dark clouds which is illumined every now and then by flashes of red light.

   Volcanic dust fell here yesterday. But fortunately there have been also several heavy rain showers which have washed away the dust from the grass and restored the verdure of the fields. The condition of the atmosphere is also apparently improving.

   Owing to the destruction of several estates, the sugar and arrow root industries of St. Vincent are seriously injured. Destitution prevails among the laboring classes, who are without clothes and hungry.

   Nearly 2,000 deaths on this island have been reported. Bodies have been discovered in houses in life-like attitudes; these present a gruesome spectacle. There are decomposed bodies in many houses, and in order to guard against disease it will probably be necessary for the authorities to burn these dwellings down. Owing to the many difficulties in the way of those who have the matter in hand, hundreds of bodies have not been interred,

   As wide areas of ground which formerly produced foodstuffs have been devastated, there is today an abnormal demand for breadstuffs and a consequent scarcity of food supplies. The prices on food are advancing. The destruction of the live stock of the island has also caused a rise in the price of meat.

   A British warship has arrived here from Trinidad. She brings provisions for the relief of the sufferers.

 

TROUBLE ANTICIPATED.

Strike of Coal Miners Officially Declared.

BIDS FAIR TO BE A LONG ONE.

Much Enthusiasm Among the Miners—Engineers, Firemen and Pump Runners May be Called Out—Would Entail Great Losses—Non-union Men Would be Employed to Protect Property—Trouble Then.

   Hazleton, Pa., May 16.—The convention of anthracite miners, which late yesterday afternoon declared for a fight to a finish with the coal magnates for higher wages and an eight-hour day is again in session this morning. A campaign is being mapped out and final details of the strike that forces indefinite idleness upon 147,000 men are being considered.

   All night a typewriter sounded in the room of President John Mitchell.

   Telegrams were hurried to all parts of the anthracite field and hundreds were received. When the strike order came hundreds of strikers from the neighboring towns were here to catch the first news and their enthusiasm was unbounded. All night the ordinarily quiet streets of the village were crowded with people. The men who declared this strike did so understanding that in all probability it would be a protracted struggle. The operators, unmovable during the fifty days negotiations for a settlement, are not expected to be easily moved now. Radical action will be resorted to. There are constant rumors that the miners' leaders contemplate calling out the engineers, firemen and pump runners, who are the only men left working in the mines today. Their absence from a colliery would mean destruction by water that would make operation impossible for months. The operators would speedily employ non-union men to protect their property in this event and this would cause serious trouble.

 

Senator Albert Beveridge.

Senator Charles Dietrich.

PAGE FOUR—EDITORIAL.

Hard on the Witness.

   That was a bad joke which Senator Dietrich and Senator Beveridge played on Private Boardman, a returned Kansas soldier, in Washington on Tuesday. The soldier was giving testimony before the Philippines committee. On Monday he gave some testimony more or less important to the effect that the American army in the Philippines is all right and that the only cruelties he had seen practiced were committed by natives, generally upon some of their own associates.

   On Tuesday he could think of nothing bad enough to say about the policy of the government in the Philippines and the conduct of the American army. Everything was bad, he said, and nothing quite so bad as the way the soldier boys were treated by their superior officers and by the government at Washington.

   The Filipino prisoners, he said, were treated better than the soldier boys, and becoming warmed up on the wrongs the private soldiers were subjected to, he threw on the committee table two battered tin cans. They were samples, he said, of the kind of stuff that the United States soldiers were forced to eat in the Philippine army. One can, he said, contained salmon and the other soup tablets.

   All of it was, in Boardman's opinion, unfit to be eaten, and he said the soldiers revolted at it. The salmon was rotten, he said, although the can was hermetically sealed and he wanted to know, why it was the government fed such stuff to its soldiers.

   The majority of the committee was astonished to hear sentiments so contrary to those uttered by the same witness the day before and on record as proceeding from him, and concluded that he must have been "seen" by some one over the night.

   Then it was that Senator Dietrich, who is a member of the committee, got in his little joke. He said to Boardman that he would like to talk with him informally about matters in the Philippines, and asked if he would not take lunch with him and Senator Beveridge in the senate restaurant. The Kansas soldier was tickled almost to death and promptly accepted the invitation.

   A delicious soup was served, afterward salmon salad, and Boardman could hardly find fitting words in which to express his admiration for the fine quality of both. He was particularly enthusiastic in his praise of the salmon salad. It reminded him strongly of the kind the government tried to make the soldiers eat in the Philippines—because it was so different. The soup was properly seasoned, he said, and just the thing that would put vim into a soldier if he could get it out in the Philippines, where the boys had to eat canned slop.

   At the conclusion of the luncheon Boardman again expressed his appreciation of the bill of fare, and Senator Dietrich told him, with a twinkle in his eye, that he was pleased to hear him praise what he had to eat, as it was the contents of the two battered tin cans thrown on the committee room table and described as rotten and unfit for food.

   The amazement and confusion of the witness can be better imagined than described, but the two senators enjoyed the situation just the same.

 

SHE TOOK LAUDANUM.

Mrs. Charles Sprague Suicides at Blodgett Mills, N. Y.

FOUND IN UNCONSCIOUS STATE.

Could Not be Revived—Husband Died Three Weeks Ago and She Became Very Despondent—Paid the Last Bill She Owed and Then Bought the Laudanum.

   Mrs. Charles Sprague of Blodgett Mills committed suicide last evening by taking an ounce of laudanum. Her husband died about three weeks ago, and it is thought that she became despondent over business matters.

   At 6 o'clock in the evening she went to the store of E. L. Tanner in Blodgett Mills and paid a bill she was owing there. She then bought an ounce bottle of laudanum. Her neighbors saw her go home, but did not see the house lighted up as usual later in the evening.

   This morning as no stir was seen about the place, the neighbors began to investigate. The doors were locked and they broke these in to find Mrs. Sprague unconscious in bed. Coroner Santee was notified, as was also her brother, Nelson Smith of McGraw, who went to the house at once with Dr. Hendricks. Mr. Tanner identified the bottle that had contained the laudanum. She did not regain consciousness but died about 1 o'clock this afternoon.

   Mrs. Sprague was 64 years old. She leaves two children, Adelbert Phelps of Cortland and Eugene Phelps of Cold Brook. She also leaves two step children, A. A. Sprague of Cortland and Mrs. Wayland Spencer of Blodgett Mills. The funeral arrangements have not yet been made.

 

Judge Rowland Davis.

ROSE WOULDNT PLEAD.

Drank from a Bottle with a Fellow She Didn't Know.

   Mrs. Rose Pendle Langdon appeared in city court this morning to answer to the charge of public intoxication. She refused to plead to the charge and the court entered a plea of not guilty and adjourned the case until next Monday morning, fixing bail in the sum of $100. Rose had a very black eye. She stated that she drank just a little out of a bottle given her by a young fellow from South Cortland, whom she did not know. That was the last she remembers about her spree.

   She was picked up off the pavement on Port Watson-st. last evening by Officer Townsend. It is not known who struck her in the eye. She requested that a doctor and two yards of cotton batting be sent for her relief.

 

IN TRUCK'S DEFENCE.

Attorney McCrahon Has His Bill Cut Down.

   Attorney John H. McCrahon of Syracuse, who conducted the appeal for John Truck, and who presented a bill which is understood to have been for nearly $1,300 for such services, has been paid by County Treasurer Foster, on an order of Judge Parker of the court of appeals, the sum of $450, being an amount about equal to Mr. McCrahon's disbursements in conducting the appeal.

 

SHORT LINE TO CORTLAND PARK

Will Soon be in Use—Crossing of Lackawanna Railroad.

   Trolley cars will soon be running over the new line of the Traction company on Elm-st., Cortland. The Lackawanna Railroad company is going to put in the crossing at the junction of its tracks with those of the trolley line, and the time when cars can be run the whole length of Elm-st. will depend largely upon the quickness of action on the part of the railroad company in placing this crossing.

   The upper end of the new line will probably be used tomorrow for the approach to Church-st., instead of the long curve at the corner of Clinton-ave. and Church-st., which will be torn out.

 

Cortland Park.

Dance at the Park.

   One hundred twenty couples attended Dillon Bros.' reception to their dancing classes at the park last evening, and a very pleasant evening was spent. Their own orchestra of ten pieces furnished music. The car service\ was excellent.

 

Death of Mrs. Flanagan.

   Mrs. Margaret L. Flanagan, 9 Hubbard-st., died a little before 12o'clock, noon today, from pneumonia, aged 70 years.

   Mrs. Flanagan was born in Ennis, County Clare, Ireland, and it was there that she married Thomas Flanagan, who died in Cortland about twelve years ago. She had been a resident of Cortland for more than thirty-five years. She leaves a family of seven children, Mr. John Flanagan of Syracuse, Miss Mary Flanagan of Cortland, Mr. James Flanagan of Rochester, Misses Margaret and Ella Flanagan of Cortland, Mr. Patrick Flanagan of Chicago, and Miss Anna Flanagan, a teacher in the Cortland public schools.

   She also leaves a sister, Mrs. Sargeson of Chicago and two brothers, Messrs. John and Daniel Garvey of Australia.

   The funeral arrangements have not been made as yet.

 

Fortnightly Club.

   The Fortnightly club met Wednesday afternoon with Mrs. Geo. P. Hollenbeck. The remainder of this year's work is devoted to American art, and Wednesday's meeting covered the early period. Three papers were presented. Mrs. B. L. Webb discussed the early Anglo-American Artists John Singleton Copley (1737-1815) and Benjamin West (1738-1840.) Of the portrait painters of the time of Washington, Miss Mary H. White treated of Charles W. Peale (1741-1827) and Rembrandt Peale (1787-1860), and Miss Ella Van Hoesen of Gilbert Charles Stuart (1755-1828) and John Trumbull (1756-1843). Miss L. H. Stone discussed "Birds" under the department of current topics. Mrs. Charlotte Nash Head added pleasure to the meeting by her fine rendering of an old Scotch ballad.

 

BREVITIES.

    —A new board walk is being laid today in front of the house occupied by Miss Julia Randall, 149 Main-st., Cortland.

   —Tomorrow evening at the park will occur one of the regular park dances. Cars will leave at 7:30, 8, 8:30 and 9 o'clock for the park.

   —Mary M. Garvey, aged 16 days, infant child of Mr. and Mrs. John Garvey, Jr., 22 North Greenbush-st., died last evening. Burial 2 o'clock tomorrow afternoon at St. Mary's cemetery.

   —New display advertisements today are—Gas Light Co., Gas ranges, page 7; M. W. Giles, China sale, page 7; New York store, Millinery, dry goods, etc., page 6; S. Simmons, Special sale of pants, page 6; McGraw & Elliott, Paints, etc., page 6: M. A. Case. Dry goods, page 6.