Saturday, November 21, 2015

A TRIP IN A CANOE



Little York Lake
The Cortland Democrat, Friday, April 17, 1891.

A Trip in a Canoe.
   While our townsman D. W. Van Hoesen, Esq., was at Hamilton College, he obtained plans and specifications for a canvass canoe, which he constructed himself outside of study hours. It is a frail looking little craft and only weighs 38 pounds, but Mr. Van Hoesen has sailed down the Mohawk and Hudson rivers in it without accident, and two years since he started from Brayton's Mills in this village, and went down the Tioughnioga and Susquehanna rivers to Harrisburg, Pa., coming home by rail. The canoe will carry besides two persons, considerable luggage, which is stowed away in the fore and aft water-tight compartments.
   On Wednesday morning, in pursuance of a plan long contemplated, Mr. and Mrs. Van Hoesen took the 6 o'clock train for Tully, and at about 7:30 o'clock the canoe was pushed from the bank on Tully lake bound with its occupants for Cortland. Although the water was high and the current in the streams strong, they passed through the Tully, Goodell [Goodale] and Little York lakes, and their outlets without accident until about 1 1/2 miles this side of Little York, when the current got the best of them and flung them against the top of a tree, and out into about four feet of swiftly running water. They managed with some difficulty, to reach the bank and Van Hoesen ran below and overhauled the craft, when they again got on board and came safely through to Brayton's Mills in this village, where they landed at 5:30 P. M., somewhat wet but in good spirits. Fortunately they are none the worse for the impromptu bath and insist that they had a splendid ride and an enjoyable time generally.

Cortland Sportmen's Club.
   Last Monday evening several members of the sporting fraternity in this vicinity, met at the residence of A. M. Schermerhorn on Tompkins-st. in this place, and organized the Cortland County Sportsmen's Club. The following are the charter members: A. M. Schermerhorn, W. H. Newton, E. C. Rindge, J. D. Schermerhorn, L. W. Porter, Edward Harrington,W. A. Clark. A. D. Wallace, Chas. Randall, Chas. T. Smith and E. A. Williams. The following annual members were elected: David Morris, Edward Moran, Peter Nodecker, Putnam Martin, A. J. Barber. Many persons from other towns in the county have filed applications to become members and will be admitted as it is designed to be a county organization. Wednesday afternoon of each week was selected as the time for trap shooting which takes place on the grounds of the Cortland and Homer Gun Club just north of the gas works [north of Central N. Y. Living History Center—CC editor]. The following officers were chosen for the ensuing year:
   Captain and President—A. M. Schermerhorn, of Cortland.
   Lieutenant—E. A. Williams, of Homer,
   Secretary and Treasurer—E. C. Rindge, of Cortland.
   One of the principle objects of the association will be the stocking of the streams in the County with game fish and the protection of game and fish therein. Parties found hunting or fishing out of season or breaking the game laws of the state in any particular will be promptly and vigorously prosecuted.
   A committee was appointed to submit constitution and by-laws for the government of the club at the next meeting which is subject to the call of the President.
   This is a move in the right direction and if the organization is supported by members from every town in the county as it should be, the fishing and hunting in this county ought to be excellent within the next two years. There are no better trout streams any where than those in this county and the lakes and streams will furnish pickerel and bass in plenty, if illegal fishing is prohibited and poachers promptly punished. There would be fair sport for the hunter also if the laws were lived up to.
   It is to be hoped that the lovers of this sort of sport in every town in the county, will join the club and assist in preserving the fish and game.

Plum Loomis in Trouble Again.
   Chief of Police Dagwell, of Utica, with a posse made up of other officers of that city and Rome, visited the farm house of William Loomis, north of Higginsville, at about 4 o'clock Saturday morning, in search of Plumb Loomis and Jos. Dunn, who were wanted to answer a charge of burglary committed in Waterville about a year ago, and for which both men bad been indicted. The house was surrounded by the officers and on entering, Plumb was found in bed, and captured without resistance. He denied that he had been in hiding, as claimed, but "would have gone to Utica on receipt of a postal card saying that he was wanted."
   His case had been called on Friday, when he failed to put in an appearance, as had also Dunn, whose whereabouts are not known, and he has probably made good his escape. Loomis was taken to Utica jail to await the result of the trial. Let the outcome be what it may, the affair is a tame one compared with the exciting experiences and tragedies connected with the earlier history of the once notorious gang, of which Plumb was one of the chief actors.


FROM EVERYWHERE.
   The wool hat trust has collapsed.
   Kansas has 50,000 colored residents.
   There are 80,000 Alliance men in Georgia.
   Cuba is beginning to ship molasses in bulk.
   There are nearly 300 Arabians in St. Louis.
   Arctic whalebone now sells for $6 a pound.
   A new Opera House is again talked of for Binghamton.
   Owego's Soldiers Monument will be dedicated July 4th.
   The assembly has passed the bill making Good Friday a legal holiday.
   Bond & McCollom, of Whitney's Point marble dealers, have assigned [bankrupt].
   America's first metallic tin ingot was made March 20 at Cajalco, Cal.
   Two men killed seventy-seven muskrats, while floating in a boat from Oxford to Brisbin, during high water.
   It is worth knowing that the taking of a pension certificate as a pledge for a debt is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $100.
   The big Buffalo bucket shop of G. L. Allen & Co. has collapsed, with unpaid debts of $75,000. The firm had seventy offices in the country.
   Harriet Dutcher died in the Washington county poor-house last week, aged 116 years. She was the first white person registered there, April 12, 1834.
   Geo. I. and D. F. Wilber have purchased of J. D. Rockefeller, president of the Standard oil company, a white female fawn deer, to be placed in the Wilber park at Oneonta. This stock was imported from Africa by Mr. Rockefeller some six years ago, and are very rare.
   Clark's Arcade, the largest structure in Elizabeth, N. Y., containing the post office, headquarters of the New York & New Jersey Telephone company, the Third Regiment armory, the District court and many law and other offices was burned Monday. The total loss is estimated at $400,000.
   Asked about the future of the great show, Mr. Bailey, Barnum's partner, said: "Barnum & Bailey had articles of agreement drawn expressly stipulating that "in case of the death of either the show would go on, as usual. This agreement was also made binding upon the respective heirs and assigns, so that it became and is an absolute and imperative condition."
   In Starke county, Ind., Fred Smith, 14 years old, was shot dead by his cousin, Amil Smith, 19 years of age. Smith and his brother were sawing wood when Amil, who had been hunting, approached them. In a playful manner the hunter said to Fred that he could kill him, and, without further ceremony, pulled the trigger, killing him instantly.
   Old Dan Rice, after a retirement of years, is soon to re-enter the sawdust arena again. Old Dan is the oldest and most popularly known man ever seen in the circus ring. His new show will be a big one-ring affair, with all the novelties. He will open in Jersey City on the 15th of May, after which he will hover around the places on the Sound, by boat—later in the season he will travel by rail.
   A big row is brewing between the northern and southern wings of the Farmers' Alliance. Captain Power, who is in Cincinnati to arrange for the convention of May 19th, says that the Southern members are treating it coldly. He doubts whether any Southern States will be represented, besides Texas and Missouri. The meeting is to further the third party movement, which is very strong among the Western members, while the Southern alliance is opposed to the idea. The latter are urging a postponement until next February.  

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