WATERBURY VIOLENCE AND MURDER, BACILLI AND SHORT SKIRTS, NORMAL SCHOOL BATHS, HARD ON TRAMPS, AND GRANT ST. RESIDENTS TERRIFIED

 

Connecticut Co. streetcar, courtesy of Connecticut Trolley Museum.

Cortland Evening Standard, Monday, March 9, 1903.

VIOLENCE AND MURDER.

Rioting Has Again Broken Out in Waterbury.

POLICEMAN MENDELSOHN KILLED.

Non-Union Motorman Shot and a Conductor Pounded Into Insensibility— Eight Masked Men Entered a Car and Began Shooting—No Clue to Perpetrators of Murder.

   Waterbury, Conn., March 9.—Violence in its worst form has broken out anew in Waterbury as a result of the high feeling in connection with the strike of the motormen and conductors of the Connecticut Railway and Lighting company.

   This time it is murder and Supernumery Policeman Paul Mendelsohn is the victim. John W. Chambers, a non-union motorman, is shot and his conductor, George Weberndorfer, was pounded almost into insensibility.

   The scene of the crime was at Forest Park, the terminus of the North Main street line. As the car was about to start on the return trip eight masked men sprung out of the bushes by the roadside, entered the car and discharged their revolvers. Mendelsohn fell dead at the first report.

   The motorman was pounded over the head with the butt end of a revolver. He ran from the car and hid in a nearby swamp and thus eluded the men who pursued him. The conductor was thrown to the floor of the car and pounded and kicked until he was almost unconscious. The men then left the car and disappeared, the struggle having lasted 10 minutes. The first shot was fired at 9:52 p. m.

   The conductor regained his feet with difficulty. Suffering from his severe beating and hardly able to stand, he went to the controller and started the car back toward the city. On the way he met another car, the crew of which relieved the injured man and hurried to the city for assistance. The body of the dead officer was carried into police headquarters and later taken to the morgue. Weberndorfer received medical attention.

   Despite the diligent and prompt search of the policemen and detectives not a clue could be found as to the perpetrators of the cold-blooded murder.

   Mayor Kilduff and Chief of Police Egan in an interview said that they felt positive that the murder was the work of Waterbury men.

 

To Test Wireless Telegraphy.

   Chicago, March 9.—It is stated here that Armour & Co. have arranged for the test of the wireless telegraph as applied to communication between the cities where they have packing plants and important offices. They now maintain leased telegraph wires west to St. Louis, Kansas City, Omaha and Sioux City, and east to Allegheny, Philadelphia, New York and Boston. If preliminary experiments between the Chicago stockyards and the company's downtown offices shall prove successful, plants will be installed to test the system between Chicago and one of the four Western cities. The successful operation of the wireless system, it is estimated, will save the company about $100,000 a year.

 

Guest editorials.

PAGE FOUR—EDITORIAL.

The Bacilli and Short Skirts.

   The relentless and never ending battle which science is waging against the bacilli has taken a rather unusual form in the city of Bayonne. N. J. There an especially vigorous germ chaser urges that the board of health adopt an ordinance compelling all women to wear skirts whose hems shall be at least six inches above the ground, the argument being that disease breeding germs are swept up, carried along and distributed broadcast by the trailing skirts in which many women appear on the streets of the town. The local board of health to which the laws of New Jersey give power to enact and enforce such an ordinance, is said to look with favor upon this plan of campaign against the bacilli, but the women are up in arms against it.

   Womanlike, however, they do not propose to fight the board of health, but all of the male sex who have reached the alleged age of discretion. The leading women of the town are said to have a "pull" with the city council, and they threaten that if the board of health resolution is passed they will force a measure through the city council the first section of which shall read as follows:

   Section 1. It is hereby enacted by the common council of Bayonne City, N. J., that from and after the date of this act all male persons residing or doing business within the corporate limits of this city shall be required to wear trousers reaching not lower than three inches below the knees.

   It hardly seems fair or just for the women of Bayonne to compel the entire male population of trousers wearing age to don "high water pants" just because a few misguided bacteria busters propose the abbreviation of their skirts, but there is something to be said for the contention of the women. If their dress is to be regulated by males, why should not the women prescribe the garb of the men?

   The proposed short skirts may be sensible and in line with correct sanitary notions, but there is more to this matter of abbreviated skirts than the mere question of public health. It cannot be settled off hand even by so autocratic a body as a board of health.

 

Cortland Normal School.

THE NORMAL BATHS.

Architect and Builder Making Plans for their Installation.

   Mr. E. E. Winters of the State Architects office and Contractor LeValley of LeValley, McLeod & Co. of Elmira, N. Y., which firm is to put in the new baths in the [Cortland] Normal building are in town today making preparations for beginning the work which is now waiting only for the arrival of the necessary materials. Owing to pressure of work at the State Architects' office, which has delayed the arrival of Mr. Winters in Cortland, the completion of the work, which was fixed for April 1st, will now probably not be reached till several weeks later.

 

BASKET BALL CHAMPIONSHIP.

Four Teams That Are to Play the Twelve Games.

   The [Cortland] Y. M. C. A. basket ball tournament will be started next Saturday evening in the Y. M. C. A. gymnasium. There will be twelve games played, two each Saturday night until the close, between four teams, the Y. M. C. A., the Bankers, the Normals and the Centrals. The schedule will be closed with a banquet for all the members of the teams. The admission will be 10 cents for gentlemen, and the ladies will be admitted free of charge.

   The teams will be made up as follows:

   Y. M. C. A.—Godfrey, Hogan, Wheeler, Hammond and Quinn,

   Bankers—Richards, Corwin, Hinman, Bentley, Reynolds, and Price.

   Normal—Vincent, T. Clark, Haskins, Jennings, Coffin and Gale.

   Central—Geer, E. Clark, Higgins, Ryan, Medes and Cooper.

 

Japanese Thimble Bee.

   The ladies of the Presbyterian church will hold a Japanese thimble bee in the church parlors tomorrow afternoon from 2:30 to 5 o'clock. The rooms are being attractively decorated in Japanese style. Japanese costumes will be worn by the children. Japanese refreshments will be served, and a Japanese program rendered. Ladies and attendants of this church are invited to attend if they desire to do so, and the gentlemen are also invited to drop in for a cup of Japanese tea.

 

Death of Levi Wiser.

   Levi Wiser, formerly of Cortland,, died at his home in the town of Virgil on Sunday afternoon a 3 o'clock. His age was 64 years. He was a member of Co. K, One Hundred Fifty-seventh regiment, New York Vols. The funeral will be held at 10 a. m. Wednesday, with burial at McGraw.

 

Hard on the Tramps.

   The farmers' wives in this section are looking forward with grim satisfaction to advent of the telephone lines. When a tramp appears at a farm house the next family will be told to prepare and so on the whole length of the line. No doubt the tramp will soon regard the telephone as a great nuisance.—Dryden Herald.

 

Grant-st. Terrified.

   Residents along Grant-st., Cortland, and in that vicinity have been bothered, and in some cases terrified by a gang of tramps or beggars that has been working in that section.

   Officers Baker and Townsend corralled James Morton, William Keegan and Thomas Smith this afternoon, thus breaking up the gang.

 

BREVITIES.

   —The King's Daughters will meet tomorrow at 3 p. m. Ladies come prepared to sew.

   —Chief of Police Barnes took William Brown to the Onondaga penitentiary this morning.

   —The third lecture in the series at the Universalist church occurs tonight at 8 o'clock. The speaker will be Rev. W. A. Smith of Groton and his theme will be "The Heroism as Demanded by the Times."

   —Dr. F. W. Higgins speaks before the Prohibition Alliance at G. A. R. hall this evening at 8 o'clock on the theme, "The Physiological Action of Alcohol on the Human System." All invited. Admission free.

   —One of the especial features of town meeting in Cuyler this year was over the subject of excise. The vote was a tie. A petition is now being circulated in that town for a special election to vote upon this again.

   —A regular meeting of Cortland lodge. No. 351, A. O. U. W., will be held in Vesta lodge rooms tomorrow evening at 7:30 o'clock. All members are requested to be present, as the representative to the grand lodge will make his report.

   —New display advertisements today are—M. W. Giles, Lace curtains, page 7; W. T. Crane, Sale of pianos and organs, page 8; Warren, Tanner & Co., Easter kid gloves, page 5; S. Simmons, Clothing, page 4; G. H. Wiltsie, Carpets, page 6.

   —Cortlandville lodge, No. 470, F. & A. M., will hold a special communication Tuesday evening at 7:30 for the purpose of conferring the third degree. The past masters will confer the work, after which light refreshments will be served in the banquet hall.

 

AGUINALDO CORRESPONDENCE, VENEZUELA INSURGENTS, MACEDONIA AND THE BALKANS, WAR REMINISCENCES, AND ROUGH TRIP

 

Emilio Aguinaldo.

Cortland Evening Standard, Saturday, March 7, 1903.

AGUINALDO CORRESPONDENCE.

Proof That an Attack Upon Americans in Manila Was Planned.

   Washington, March 7.—The bureau of insular affairs, war department, has just published a pamphlet of 48 pages giving the telegraphic correspondence of Emilio Aguinaldo from July 15, 1898, to February 28, 1899, the period just preceding the fall of Manila and following the outbreak of hostilities between the United States forces and the insurgents.

   These telegrams were discovered by Captain John R. M. Taylor, 14th infantry, among the mass of papers captured from the so-called insurgent government.

   They are sufficiently complete to show that the insurgent leader leaned strongly upon others for advice and counsel, that there was serious opposition to his authority even among his own people, that an attack upon the Americans at Manila had been fully decided upon before the outbreak of hostilities on February 4, 1899, and that in the event that the struggle should prove successful the new government that would have been created would not have been a republic, for titles of nobility were on January 14, 1899, promised to certain insurgent officers as a reward for entering Manila and capturing the American forces and their officers.

 

Insurgents Near Caracas.

   Willemstad, Island of Curacao, March 7.—Advices received here from revolutionary sources in Venezuela say the revolutionists have gathered their forces around Caracas; that all the eastern part of Venezuela, except the city of Cumana, is held by them and that President Castro has been unable to call a session of congress because of the lack of a quorum.

 

Decrease in Number of New Cases.

   Ithaca, March 7.—There is now a marked decrease in the number of new typhoid fever cases in Ithaca and the general situation is very much improved. Physicians agree that the chief danger at present lies in secondary infection. Miss Julia McClune, a junior in Cornell, was discharged from Cornell infirmary. Hers was the second case of typhoid fever to be discharged cured.

 

Pensioning of Professors.

   Ithaca, March 7.—Announceanent was made of a scheme for the pensioning of Cornell university professors who, in accordance with the rule adopted by the board of trustees last fall, will be retired after attaining the age of 70 years. The sum of $150,000 has been given the university for this purpose and this amount will be placed at compound interest until 1914, when it will amount to $250,000. Each professor retired will receive an annual pension of $1,500, three-fourths of which will be paid from the pension fund and one-fourth of which will be contributed by the professors. It is expected, however, that professors who reach the age limit before 1914 will also receive the benefits of the pension scheme.

 

Guest editorials.

Sultan Abdul Hamid II.

PAGE FOUR—EDITORIAL.

Macedonia and the Powers.

   The acceptance by Turkey of the scheme of administrative reforms for Macedonia urged by Russia and Austria does not necessarily mean that the trouble in the Balkans is over. Under pressure the Turk will promise anything and then await his own pleasure and convenience to fulfill his pledge. The time of fulfillment only comes when renewed and stronger pressure is put upon him.

   The essential reforms which the Sultan has rather unexpectedly consented to make in Macedonia are, briefly, that the control of the gendarmerie, or domestic military force, shall be taken from the Turk and entrusted to the neutral nations—Belgians, Dutchmen and Swiss—and that the local needs of the Macedonian communities shall be met before any part of their revenue is sent to Constantinople. This is the least that the powers could have reasonably demanded. However, the first clause in the requirement is no doubt deeply resented at the Turkish army headquarters, while the latter clause must be viewed with equal disgust by the officials of the Turkish treasury. If the Turk can neither command nor rob a Christian community what, in Mussulman logic, is the value of such a community to the Ottoman empire? So it may be inferred that the Turk will make even this "irreducible minimum" of reform only in the extreme emergency of "saving his face"—the retention of suzerainty in the Balkans.

   If the administrative reforms are carried out in good faith, the Turk will "save his face" and be permitted to retain for some time such sovereignty in southwestern Europe as he now holds. But the Turk does nothing in good faith. He will doubtless, according to his nature and past practices, try to defeat the object of the reforms by disregarding their terms as far as he can, which means as far as he dares. The sultan's promise, therefore, by no means settles the Macedonian problem.

   History and experience teach that no Christian population subjected to Turkish misrule can ever be brought into a satisfactory condition until they have been emancipated from that misrule altogether, and any compromise between the powers and the porte short of the expulsion of the Turk from Europe can only be a temporary and ineffective makeshift. Whether the Macedonians are quite competent to rule themselves may be questioned, though there can be no doubt that for their well being and the peace of Europe it would be far wiser to extend to Macedonia the same autonomy as that enjoyed by the other Balkan states which have been carved out of the Ottoman empire than to leave the distracted country longer under Turkish misrule and oppression.

 

Capt. William Saxton.

WAR REMINISCENCES.

By Captain Saxton of the 157th Regiment, N. Y. Vols.

GEN. MCCLELLAN'S SHORT COMINGS.

Constantly Overestimating the Enemy's Strength and Calling for More Troops—Opportunities to Take Richmond Pass by—Battles of Gaines Mill, Savage Station, Malvern Hill and Antietam—McClellan Relieved of Command.

CHAPTER 8.

   To the Editor of The Standard:

   Sir—From June 2 to June 25, Gen. McClellan was occupied in building bridges across the Chickahominy and throwing up entrenchments along his whole line.

   He telegraphed the president that he was compelled to do this on account of his inferior numbers. His adjutant general reported on this date that he had present for duty 115,102 men and 41,736 absent on special duty, sick, under arrest, etc., making a total of 156,838.

   The president had sent him reinforcements from around Washington, immediately after the battle, to replace his loss. Gen. Lee used this delay to concentrate his army. Stonewall Jackson with his force was recalled from the Shenandoah valley. Other troops were ordered from the South and elsewhere, until he had nearly 70,000 men, in and near Richmond.

   President Lincoln consolidated the forces under Generals French, Banks and McDowell into one army and called Gen. Pope from the Mississippi to command it. On the 25th Gen. McClellan advanced Hooker's division a mile in front, and a stiff fight occurred, Hooker losing nearly 500 men. This was the battle of Oak Grove, the first of the seven days battles.

   Gen. McClellan telegraphed the president "The rebel force in my front is stated to be 200,000."

Attacked at Mechanicsville.

   The 26th, Jackson appeared in force at Hanover courthouse, on McClellan's right flank, threatening his rear and communications. Rebel Gen. Hill attacked our forces at Mechanicsville, on the north side of the Chickahominy. A stubborn fight ensued, but Hill failed to drive our forces back.

   At this time eight divisions of the Union army were on the right, or south bank of the river, occupying entrenchments; the balance of the army, was still on the north side, really two separate armies.

   McClellan was in a bad position. If he withdrew to the north bank it would indicate that he had abandoned the attempt to capture Richmond. If he moved to the south bank it would leave the way open for the Confederates to capture his supply depot at White House.

   He decided to change his base of supplies to the James river, distant about 20 miles, with only one wagon road across White Oak swamp, leading to it.

   During the night of the 26th, after Hill had been checked at Mechanicsville, McClellan ordered all of the baggage train across to the south bank, and started it over this one road for the James.

Battle of Gaines Mill.

   Before daylight Friday, June 27, McCall, on our extreme right, was ordered to retreat to Gaines Mill, but the enemy attacked him with such force that he was driven down on to Porter's corps and they secured the bridge at Mechanicsville. When the enemy struck Porter's corps they were hurled back shattered and bleeding. Our forces met them with a solid front and maintained the unequal contest till nearly night, when the men, exhausted, many of them having fired nearly their last cartridge, began to fall back. McClellan took as many men from the entrenchments on the south side as he dared, sent them across, and the Confederate advance was checked. Night ended the battle at Gaines Mill.

   That night our train of 5,000 wagons, 2,500 head of cattle, and other supplies, were set in motion for the James river. Our forces on the north of the Chickahominy crossed over to the south side and destroyed the bridges. The dead and wounded were abandoned.

   On the 28th, Saturday, the Confederates marched to White House, and were disappointed to find that most of our stores had been removed or destroyed.

   Most of the Confederate army was now on the north side and McClelland's re-united on the south, with the bridges destroyed.

McClellan's "Flank Movement."

   This date McClellan telegraphed the president: "Had I 10,000 fresh troops, I could take Richmond tomorrow. I have lost this battle, because my force was too small. If I save the army now, I tell you plainly, I owe no thanks to you, or any other person in Washington. You have done your best to sacrifice this army." The truth is he had not used half the troops he had. There were not 25,000 men between him and Richmond now. Did he strike with his 100,000 and capture the city? No. He decided to make what he called a "flank movement" across the White Oak swamp to the James river; a shorter word is "retreat."

Savage Station.

   Sunday the 29th the retreat commenced, Generals Sumner's and Franklin's corps forming the rear guard. At 2 p. m. they were furiously attacked by the enemy at Savage Station, the conflict was kept up till dark. During the night Sumner and Franklin fell back to White Oak bridge and crossed over with the rest of the army.

   On the 30th a battle was fought between Heintzelman's corps and the enemy, who attempted to cutoff the retreat at Charles City cross roads. The rebels were so badly defeated they lost heart and almost a panic ensued. Jackson was ordered to cover their retreat in case the Union forces advanced, and word was sent to Richmond to get all public property ready to move. During the night the Confederates were rallied by Gen. Hill and their lines reformed. Our forces fell back to a very strong position at Malvern Hill.

Malvern Hill

   The next day, July 1, our line of battle was arranged, and about 4 p. m. the rebels came on to storm the position. It was an awful battle and the confederates were defeated. Our gun boats on the river united with the army in shelling the enemy, whose loss was immense.

   That evening they returned in disorder to Richmond. Gen. McClellan was on the battlefield until about 6 p. m. He was down on board one of the gunboats on the river. Had he made a vigorous advance even then, no doubt Richmond could have been taken. Instead of that he continued his retreat that night to Harrison's landing on the James, leaving our dead unburied and many of the wounded to fall into the bands of the enemy.

   On the 3d he telegraphed to the secretary of war "that he had not 50,000 men left, and to capture Richmond he would have to have 100,000 more men." His adjutant general reported on the 20th that he had 101,601 present for duty and 56,023 absent, sick, on special duty, etc.

   If any one will read the correspondence that passed between President Lincoln, the secretary of war, and Gen, McClellan it will make his blood boil with indignation.

McClellan Dilly-Dallies.

   Early in July Gen. Halleck was called from the West to Washington, as general-in-chief. It was decided to unite McClellan's army with the army around Washington, under Gen. Pope. I cannot stop to tell you of the dilly-dallying and delay of McClellan in moving. It is history and you can read it.

   As soon as the Confederates were satisfied that McClellan would not advance on Richmond, they began to plan to throw their army on Gen. Pope, crush him, and perhaps capture Washington and Baltimore. The movement was begun on the 1st of August, which resulted in the defeat of Pope in the battles around Manassas, or second Bull Run, Aug. 27 to Sept. 1.

   On the 3rd of August, on learning of this Confederate movement, McClellan was ordered to transfer his army to Acquia creek and unite with Pope, but in spite of positive orders, and the urgency of the case, he did not begin to move for eleven days, and his first corps did not go aboard the transports till the 21^st. Himself and staff reported at Acquia Creek the 24th. A few of McClellan's troops joined Pope, the rest didn't get there. No wonder Pope was defeated. After this defeat, seeing that McClellan would not cooperate with him, Pope resigned and McClellan was again given command of all the troops around Washington.

Bloody Battle of Antietam.

   The Confederates pushed on up into Maryland and on the 17th of September McClellan fought them at Antietam, "the bloodiest battle of the war." On that day more men were killed than in any other one day's battle of the rebellion. There were greater battles, Gettysburg, Chancellorsville, Spotsylvania, Stone River, Chickamauga and Atlanta, but these battles lasted more than one day.

   At Antietam the fight commenced at sunrise and by 4 o'clock it was over.

   Lee retreated across the Potomac, and McClellan sat down on the north side and called for more troops. He finally crossed over the 26th of October and on the 7th of November he was relieved from command.

McClellan's Shortcomings.

   In reviewing McClellan's military career, we are forced to conclude, that he developed an abnormal faculty of overestimating the force of the enemy and underestimating his own. He also proved his incapacity to handle large numbers of men in battle. In all of his engagements on the peninsula and at Antietam, only part of his available force was used. He seemed to have no general plan of battle. His corps commanders, for the most part, fought singly, while he was in the rear or elsewhere, superintending what should have been done by his quartermaster general. He failed to seize his opportunities, where success seemed almost certain. He failed to realize that "There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune." Nevertheless, he was very popular with his private soldiers, who were ever ready to shout for "Little Mack."

   W. S.

 

The Voyage Was Rough.

   A letter has been received from Mr. N. E. H. Gillette who with Mrs. Gillette and Miss Editha Stephens of Cortland last week took the trip by water from New York to Jacksonville, Fla. Mr. Gillette writes that the voyage was a very rough one and that one morning of the 260 passengers on board only six appeared for breakfast. He does not say whether he was one of the six, but he does say that Miss Stephens had quite decided that when it was time to return she would either walk or come by trolley rather than venture on shipboard. Her friends here are confident that she will think better of this decision after being on land for a little time.

 

BREVITIES.

   —Wild geese going north, robins and blue-birds reported—all these are evidences of spring.

   —Dryden has organized a camp of the Order of the Golden Seal with sixty-five charter members.

—The Cortland County Ministerial association will meet in the Congregational church Monday at 10:30 and at 2 p. m.

   —Dr. N. L. Andres of Colgate university, Hamilton, sails from New York Tuesday, March 10, on a trip to Palestine.

   —The new display advertisements today are— R. W. Mitchell, Meats, page 5; Haight & Freese Co., Stocks, bonds, etc., page 7.

 

FOR PURE WATER, ON SHORE AT FUNCHAL, AND MARCONI SERVICE

Prof. William M. Booth, Cortland Normal School.

Cortland Standard Semi-Weekly, Friday, March 13, 1903

FOR PURE WATER.

An Interview With Prof. Booth of the Normal School.

FREQUENT TESTS ARE NECESSARY.

Water Supplies Should be Carefully Protected—Tests Should be Both Chemical and Bacteriological—Indications of Contamination—Cortland’s City Water is Uniformly Pure.

   Prof. William M. Booth of the science department of the Normal school, who during the past ten years has made the subject of water analysis a special study, gave the following information concerning water and water supplies while conversing with a Standard reporter recently.

   With reference to the epidemic of typhoid fever at Ithaca, N. Y., he states that the cosmopolitan character of Cornell university has made this epidemic a matter of general comment; not that this outbreak is unique in the extent of its unfortunate results, but that homes widely distributed geographically are affected. Typhoid fever epidemics, he says, occur regularly wherever people are careless regarding sanitary conditions and will continue to occur as long as the present system of supervision of municipal water supplies is maintained.

   The professor is of the opinion that the epidemic at Ithaca might have been averted had the state board of health made at least a monthly analysis of all public water supplies in the state. The people, he says, should be guaranteed pure water, and such action by the state board would be a long step toward such a guaranty.

   In the state of Massachusetts, he says, weekly analysis of all municipal water supplies are required. The reservoirs are carefully guarded, barbed wire fences in some instances being placed around them. Great care is exercised in every way to secure pure water for the people.

   In Baltimore, according to Mr. L. N. Frederick, who formerly lived in that city, men are hired to guard with jealous care the reservoirs that contain the city’s water supplies to see that nothing is thrown into them to contaminate the water that the people use.

   The people, he claims, should be protected by the state, which through its board of health should make frequent tests of all water supplies, and these tests should be made both chemically and bacteriologically.

   In regard to water tests he stated that sewage contamination is shown by the presence of chlorides, and the amount of the contamination is measured by the number of grains per gallon. Free ammonia indicates an immediate contamination of plant or animal origin. Albuminoidal ammonia indicates a vegetable contamination of a very deep seated origin, and nitrates may indicate decomposed plant or animal matter that is one stage farther along than when albuminoidal ammonia is found. Nitrites, he says, are indicative of sewage contamination. It is, however, only by considering all the characteristics of water that correct conclusions can be drawn.

   In regard to the water supply of Cortland, Prof. Booth says that he has made a test of it every month since he has been in Cortland, and only once did he find it anything but perfectly pure. The exception was found by the analysis that was made of water drawn in mid-summer when the supply was very low. Even then it was not by any means dangerous to health.

 

Miss Mary F. Hendrick, English Department, Cortland Normal School.

SS Kaiserin Maria Theresia.

ON SHORE AT FUNCHAL, PORTUGAL.

Extracts from a Letter from Miss M. F. Hendrick.

   A letter has been received by one of the Cortland friends of Miss M. F. Hendrick, who is now enjoying the cruise to the Mediterranean in which three Cortland people are participating, and we are permitted to publish some extracts from it, as follows:

   Tuesday, Feb. 17, 10 a. m.

   On board Kaiserin, steaming for Gibraltar.

   Through cablegrams you have long ago heard of our safe arrival at Madeira. How delightful it was to touch land again. We have had a delightful voyage—clear, sunny skies and no adverse winds. The roll of the steamer has made some ill, but that didn’t last long.

   We reached Funchal at 10 a. m., had an early lunch and were taken by tender to the wharf. Imagine going down on the shaky staircase on the outside of the steamer, jumping from one boat to another and then being elevated to a stone staircase leading to the wharf above—a long wharf built against a wall with no rail to protect the timid.

   The quaintest place in the world is Funchal. Narrow streets with pointed paving stones so that it seems as if every step would penetrate the sole of the shoe. We first took the famous funicular road to the top of the mountains. On either side is the most fertile soil covered with banana gardens, sugar cane, etc. We were pelted with flowers—japonicas, white and waxy roses, geraniums, etc. We bought baskets of japonicas for 3 cents. We wandered into an old fashioned church and afterwards came down the toboggan slide of 4 miles in ten minutes. It was very delightful. The sleds held three persons managed by two men who guide the thing by ropes, and run along the sides. It was not at all scary, but gave a very pleasant sensation.

   We then took a ride in ox carts, flat like stone boats, drawn by bullocks. They hold four persons each and cost 25 cents per hour.

   The shops are fine, but we purchased only a few pictures. We didn’t care to burden ourselves with unnecessary things. The fruit market was interesting—custard, apples, bananas, oranges, guavas, etc., but above all were the exquisite flowers, those that require the most tender care with us growing in their greatest luxuriance; hanging gardens brilliant with color, while the small parks contained every variety of palm. We saw great clusters of green dates. The flower beds were bordered with small white and yellow blossoms.

   We came back to the steamer before dark, thinking that the treacherous passage was more easily done by day light. Mr. Clark said that it was the most pleasant landing that he had ever made there. Not a cloud, temperature like our June, no wraps needed. It was an ideal day, quite in contrast with the ice and snow of Cortland.

 

Guglielmo Marconi.

The Marconi Service.

   London, March 10.—The Pall Mall Gazette understands that the English postoffice authorities have made arrangements with Marconi to connect his wireless telegraphy stations with the land wires. This has hitherto been forbidden. It means a big extension to the Marconi service.