 |
| Russell Sage. |
The Cortland Democrat, Friday, December
11, 1891.
TO MURDER CAPITALISTS.
Was the Sage Attack Part of a Vast
Conspiracy?—Inspector Byrnes says It Was.
NEW YORK,
Dec. 6.—W. D. Southworth, of San Francisco, who came to New York a few days
ago, and who is said to know something about the plot to assassinate Russell Sage, was arrested here to-day.
The
developments in the terrible explosion as brought about by Inspector Byrnes and
his detectives to-day, go to show, beyond much doubt, that there really exists an
organized gang of conspirators in this city, who have sworn to kill the
monopolists of the country.
The
important link in the evidence thus far gathered by the inspector is the arrest
of William D. Southworth, the man whom it was supposed had gone to South
America to promulgate the mining scheme. The last heard of him was about two weeks
ago when Southworth was putting up at Morris Hotel. Then he said he was going
on his contemplated trip.
Somewhere
in this city this morning detectives arrested Southworth and locked him up in
police headquarters. Just where the sleuths captured their man, or how they
fell to a clue, the inspector would not say to-night. Southworth was taken to
the morgue to-day, but when shown the head of the bomb thrower said he had
never seen the man in his life. There is evidence to show that Southworth told
an
untruth, for Captain Home, who is connected with a
museum and who was at police headquarters this evening stoutly claimed that the
bomb thrower was the individual who made him acquainted with Southworth, some
two months ago, and who has, among others, made the captain's life almost a
terror to himself. That the bomb thrower and Southworth have been known to each
other is further evidence by the fact that Captain Home affirms that he has
seen the same brass badge worn by the members of the band on the breasts of both
men who came a number of times to see him at Worth's museum and other places.
One David
B. Shaw identified Southworth as a man who had advertised for a lecturer last
October. When Shaw called on Southworth the latter told him that the object of
the lectures was to organize in different cities a secret society, he
(Southworth) to be the chief officer. The nature, he said, of the organization
could be political. Through this channel he expects that the votes of the
people could be obtained, eventually taking away by the act of legislature the
control of railroads and alleged monopolies from individuals and place them in
the power of the United States government.
In this
conversation he referred to Jay Gould, Russell Sage and other prominent business
men in this city and the country, particularly men in control of railroads. By
his scheme he said that people would be able to travel to San Francisco for $100,
and in a like portion to other points in the country.
"It
will only require," said Southworth, "three or four meetings to rouse
the people to such an extent that they will organize a party stronger than
Henry George's or any of the labor parties now in existence. I can get some
money from property that I have in San Francisco, and people will jump at my
scheme as soon as they thoroughly understand the idea."
Southworth
told Inspector Byrnes that he had just returned from a trip to Europe, where he
had been making long speeches. He had tried to get General Booth, of the Salvation army, interested in his schemes, but the
great Salvationist had decided on making a trip to Africa and could not join him.
Southworth said that he was a personal friend of Senator Stewart, of Nevada, and
Senator Hurst, of California. "I'm a civil engineer," said Southworth
to the inspector. "I have got a scheme whereby I can employ all tramps who
are out of work and whom I can induce to go to Mexico and engage in mining. I
have interests in several mines there. Any one who invests in these mines will
get forty-five per cent on their outlay."
Southworth
said he was a Free Mason and received aid from the organization.
One day
not long ago he was in consultation with a committee of Masons and he unfolded
his scheme substantially as related above to the inspector. One of the committee
asked the man what he would do with the people who went to Mexico, providing
they did not want to stay there.
"There
will be no restrictions placed upon them. They can walk away if they want
to," replied Southworth; "but," he added, "it's an awful
desolate country." He was asked if that wasn't a species of slavery.
"Yes,
but is not the white man in slavery everywhere?"
Southworth
called on the committee at the Masonic temple two or three days after, when he
said that he had joined the Anarchists in San Francisco. Their insignia was
blue, white and red, three degrees. The red represented the highest degree. The
principles of the band he was not at liberty to tell, but they were strong and
radical. Indeed he could not retain a membership on that account and had
resigned. There were obligations to kill if it was necessary in order to carry
out the ideas of the society. Southworth said that one time he was in Chicago
and got arrested for trying to ship a number of Italians to Arizona without
buying tickets for them.
Southworth
was born in Lincoln county, Tenn., on July 24, 1851. When the war broke out he
came north and espoused the Union cause, but did not do any fighting. He was
confined in a lunatic asylum for six months at one time. This was in San Francisco.
Southworth said that a few days before the late election he felt a crazy fit
coming on and went to a court in this city and asked to be committed. He was
locked up eight days. The following dispatch was received at police
headquarters this evening:
SAN
FRANCISCO, Dec. 6.
Thomas Byrnes, Chief Inspector, New York.
Will D.
Southworth was an engineer, and resided here from 1886 to 1889. He is forty-five years old, five feet six inches tall, weighs 137 pounds; wore dark sandy
whiskers, clipped closely at the sides and pointed at the chin, all slightly
mixed with gray. His moustache was trimmed even with his upper lip. His
complexion was rather swarthy, and he had a broad forehead, particularly wide
between the eyes. Southworth was private secretary to Clarence Greathouse, the
managing editor of the San Francisco Examiner. He was a crank on
railroads and their management. He started a small newspaper and advocated government
control and across the continent for $100. He was subject to crazy spells and
would often apply at the city prison to be locked up during temporary aberration
of mind, saying that if he was not locked up, he would kill somebody.
(Signed) P.
CROWLEY,
Chief of
Police.
The
description as given in the dispatch is a good one of the man whom Inspector Byrnes
has locked up.
The date
of holding the inquest in the bomb throwing case has not been fixed. It will
not be until such time as those who were wounded by the explosion have
recovered sufficiently to appear and testify. Russell Sage will be one of those
who will be subpoenaed. Experts in explosives will testify as to what the bomb
probably contained.
The brain
of the bomb-thrower is undergoing a hardening process at the Carnegie laboratory
and a microscopical analysis will be made under the direction of Coroner
Messemer. Hundreds of people have viewed the ghastly features of the fiend at
the morgue, but thus far none has identified them [sic].
To-night
Mr. Russell Sage was said to be suffering from the effects of the shock caused
by the explosion of the dynamite bomb in his own office more than at any previous
time. While he does not suffer much pain, he is greatly prostrated and it will
probably be several days before he resumes active business. The Sage residence has
been besieged by callers all day.
DYNAMITE IN A BAG.
A Crank Tries to Kill Russell Sage but Met
Death—Not Getting $1,200,000 the Lunatic Wreaks Terrible Vengeance.
NEW YORK,
Dec. 4—At 12:15 o'clock this afternoon a small, shabbily-dressed man,
apparently about 35 years old, carrying a brown leather hand-bag, called at Russell
Sage's office, on the second floor of No. 71 Broadway, and asked to see Mr.
Sage. W. R. Laidlow, Mr. Sage's clerk told him Mr. Sage was busy and could not be
seen. The man persisted, and continued to talk. Mr. Sage, who was in an inner office,
came out to see what was the matter. He asked the man what he wanted. The man
said: "I demand a private interview with you." Mr. Sage replied that
it would be impossible to see the man then, but he might possibly do so later
in the day. The man continued to demand a private interview then and there, and
Mr. Sage ordered him to leave the office.
On this
the man dropped the leather bag and an explosion, which shook the entire block
instantly followed. As a result Mr. Sage was thrown across the room and stunned.
Mr. Laidlow, who had turned away, and was standing within a few feet of the
two, was also thrown across the office and had one leg [was] badly lacerated. The
stranger was thrown against the wall. The injured men were taken to O'Connell's
drug store across the way, where it was found that Sage and Laidlow, though
severely injured, had not received fatal wounds.
The noise
of the explosion was so great that it made buildings tremble many blocks away
and in an instant thousands of people were hurrying to the scene from all
directions. Both fire and ambulance calls were at once sent out and a few minutes
after the explosion, the building was surrounded by fire engines, ambulances
and policemen. The news spread through Wail street and in fact all over downtown,
and every street in the neighborhood was soon thronged with excited thousands
of men. The wildest rumors prevailed, and the number of killed and wounded
reported, was soon upward of a hundred. A man, who was crossing the street just
as the explosion occurred, said the shock was so great that men nearly fell on
the walks.
Mr.
Sage's office is on the second floor of No. 71 Broadway, on the Rector street side,
at the head of the stationway nearest the Broadway entrance. Nearly all the windows
on the east end and north side of the building were shattered, and the interior
of the building was badly wrecked. Just before the explosion was heard, a trembling
was felt all over the building, even in those parts not shattered. There was no
doubt as to the cause of the explosion, for the air in the building and street was
heavy with sulphuric smoke inseparable with the combustion of dynamite. Upon
the street the sound was like the discharge of a heavy cannon. The usual crowd
was on Broadway and Wall and the adjacent streets were filled with bankers, brokers
and business men. For an instant every one caught his breath and then looked
for the cause of the shock.
From the
building known as the Arcade, heavy clouds of smoke poured out of the gaping
spaces where windows bad been. Everybody rushed to the place. The sidewalk and
street on the north side of the building was thickly strewn with broken glass
and splintered fragments of wood. Then a man appeared at one of the windows, bleeding
from a ghastly gap in his throat, and soon a man in the uniform of the Adams
Express company, and an officer came down the main stairway, bearing the
mangled but living form of Russell Sage, the great financier and railway magnate.
About 10
minutes after the explosion Dr. A. P. Munn, Jay Gould's physician, was at Mr.
Sage's side and personally attended to his wants. Mr. Sage, though suffering from
shock, made a statement while his wounds were being dressed. He said that a man
had called at his office and sent him a card bearing the name "H. D.
Wilson," His clerk informed him that the visitor desired to see him
immediately, and he left the man with whom he was conversing to go to the outer
office to see the stranger. The man told him he must have $1,200,000 for
immediate use, and Mr. Sage, seeing that he was a crank, began to temporize
with him.
"I
want it right away," said the visitor. ''I have a lot of dynamite in this
bag and if I don't get the money forthwith I'll blow up the place.''
Mr. Sage
thought this mere bluster, and telling the man to get out, turned to go back to
his private office.
"Then
I can't have it," said the man. "Well, here goes."
After
that Mr. Sage said he knew nothing until he found himself on the lounge in the
drug store. When Mr. Sage's wounds were dressed he was taken in a cab to his
home.
Never in
the history of the metropolis is it probable that an event has occurred that
has for the time caused more excitement in Wall street and lower Broadway.
Fully 50,000 people were drawn to the scene of the explosion, and for an hour
the policemen were powerless.
When the
police arrived in force the building was quickly cleared of all persons and a
search made in the wrecked offices. Just inside the door of the general office was
found the trunk of a man in a state that rendered recognition nearly
impossible, the head having been severed from the body. A pointed, reddish
beard gave the appearance of an educated man, which was enhanced by brown curls
and a heavy moustache. When the body was taken up it was found to have been torn
into shreds by the explosion. The interior of the offices plainly showed that
the force of the explosion was something terrific. All the partition walls were
blown down and the sashes and window frames forced outward. The ceiling had
been blown down and the floor forced downward, rendering it unsafe to walk
upon. Desks and chairs were overturned and hurled into an indescribable mass,
and every piece of glass in the big air shaft that ran to the roof was shivered
into thousands of particles. A search quickly showed that the body of the man
with the pointed beard was the only one among the debris.
When the
police found their heads something like a correct list of the dead and injured was
gotten. But one person had been killed outright, the man with the pointed
beard. He is supposed to be H. D. Wilson, the man that made the demand for
money from Mr. Sage, and the one who threw the bomb. Benjamin F. Norton, who
was blown through the window, was a clerk in the office of Mr. Sage. He was
removed to Chambers Street Hospital, where he died at 1:30 o'clock, while under
operation for a fracture of the skull. The deceased was a resident of Far Rockaway,
L. I. The following injured were taken to the hospital:
Frank
Robertson, 20 years old of Bergen Point, N. J., clerk for Imbre & Co., brokers.
His skull was fractured and he will probably die.
Charles
W. Osborn, Sage's cashier, of Brooklyn, fractured skull, will probably die.
Samuel J.
Cobboun, clerk, of Brooklyn, lacerated wounds of head.
William
R. Laidlow, who was in the building at the time, received a fracture of the
leg.
Col. J.
J. Slocum, a brother-in-law of Mr. Sage and his chief clerk, was badly cut
about the head and face. When his wounds were dressed he returned to the scene,
declaring that he had left the door of the safe open and was fearful that the
securities in it had been blown out and lost. Quickly gathering together what could
be found he placed them in a small safe and had it removed.
Late in
the afternoon the fireman found among the debris a leg, which was thought to be
that of a woman. Russell Sage never employed a woman typewriter, and the supposition
is that if the leg is that of a woman, it is all that is left of one of his "put
and call" customers, who was in the office at the time.
Among the
debris in the wrecked offices was found the remains of a silk hat, evidently
worn by the man who gave his name as Wilson, and in one corner of Mr. Sage's
private office a man's hand.
The
coroner made an examination of the mangled remains of the man found in Sage's
office, and from the mangled mass of flesh and clothing took a seven chamber bull
dog revolver This was all that could be found by which an identification could be
made. The body was removed to the morgue and at a late hour to-night no one had
called to identify it.
Russell
Sage, Jr., states that his father has received three or four threatening
letters of late, signed by one James Walsh, in which the writer demanded
$1,200,000, as he was about to marry two women, the widows of Spinola and
Marheim, and he wanted money to put him on their financial level. Mr. Sage paid
no attention to the letters although the letter threatened his life. They were
assumed to be the productions of "a harmless lunatic" as young Sage
expressed it.
Russell
Sage to-night identified the head found in the office as that belonging to the man
who asked for the money.
Society and Its Cranks.
(From the
New York World.)
There are
certainly too many irresponsible cranks at large. Yesterday one of them killed
himself and several other people because Mr. Russell Sage, who was seriously
injured, would not give him $1,000,000. Mr. Sage did not know him, and the man
appears to have been crazy.
The other
day an undoubted madman shot at the Rev. Dr. John Hall as the latter was on his
way from his church to his house.
Contemporaneously
with these events a man [Edward M. Field] whom his physician declares to have been
insane for several months bankrupts the firm of which he is a member, ruins
himself and his partners and brings disgrace upon the name of a distinguished family
[Cyrus W. Field].
Why
should insane men be permitted to run at large? The man who threw the dynamite
bomb in Mr. Sage's office and the man who shot at Dr. Hall must have given
previous evidence of insanity. There are hundreds of insane men about and their
insanity is known. Worst of all, they know their own insanity and count on its furnishing
them a legal defense in case of necessity.
Society
is too careless with its cranks.
COUNTY CLERK COTTON REMOVED.
Attorney John J. Hallock Appointed His
Successor and Sworn In.
SYRACUSE,
N. Y., Dec. 3—At 4:10 o'clock this afternoon, Attorney John J. Hallock received
papers from Albany notifying him of his appointment as county clerk of Onondaga
county, vice George G. Cotton, removed. At 4:20 o'clock John J. Hallock
appeared before County Judge A. J. Northrup, in the Court of Sessions, interrupted
a trial in progress, and was sworn in as county clerk.
At 4:30
o'clock, George G. Cotton received from the hand of Alderman John Murray an
order removing him from the office of county clerk. At 4:35 o'clock Attorney
William P. Goodelle served upon County Clerk John J. Hallock the writ of
mandamus in the Munro-Ryan case issued by Justice George N. Kennedy, one week
ago last Saturday. The order requires the county clerk not to sign any certificate
of election from the First assembly district until further order of the court
is received. The order of removal served upon County Clerk Cotton was his first
intimation of the decision of the charges made at Albany last week and the subsequent
investigation closed last Monday afternoon.
The order
is short and to the point. It simply cites that charges of misconduct have been
made; that an investigation was held; that both the applicant for removal and
defendant were given hearings; that lawyers appeared for both, and concludes with
the following: "Ordered, that the said George G. Cotton be and he is hereby
removed from the said office of county clerk."
This is
signed by Governor David B. Hill attested by his private secretary, T. S.
Williams.
The usual
blank form is used for County Clerk Hallock's appointment. The simple line is
added that "John J. Hallock is made county clerk of the county of Onondaga
in the place of George G. Cotton, who has been removed from such office."
Gov.
Hill's signature follows, and the document is attested by Thomas E. Benedict,
deputy secretary of state."
County
Clerk Hallock said this evening that he would not remove any of the deputies or
assistants m the office, and the Democrats did not care about the patronage of
the office. Mr. Hallock will hold the office until January 1, 1892, when DeForest
Settle, deputy under Mr. Cotton, will take charge, he having been elected county
clerk at the recent election.
Readers
of the DEMOCRAT will remember that on two or three occasions during the recent [election]
campaign, we referred to the fact that at a meeting of old soldiers held in Wells
Hall, Cortland, in December, 1889, Hon. Rufus T. Peck made a speech and during
the course of his remarks he stated, in substance, that his heart was with them
and that the only reason why he was not one of them was because he wasn't old enough
to go to war. The DEMOCRAT took occasion to prove by Mr. Peck's own admission,
that he was born in 1836, and that consequently he was 24 years of age when the
war broke out. The article was copied by the Syracuse Evening Herald and
when interrogated in regard to the matter by people residing in Onondaga
county, Peck denied that be ever made use of the language. The Herald at
once sent a reporter here to interview some of the old veterans who were
present and heard him make the statement, and two of them were asked to make
affidavit to the fact which they did. Both Mr. H. M. Kellogg and Mr. Mark
Brownell who made the affidavits are as truthful and reliable citizens as
reside in Cortland.
On Oct.
31, 1891, too late for a reply, the Cortland Journal, published an affidavit
signed by E. M. Seacord, J. W. Strowbridge, J. F. Wheeler, S. L. Palmer and Theo.
S. Sheeley, who swore that they were present on the occasion referred to, that
they heard Mr. Peck's address and that they did not hear him speak the words attributed
to him by Mr. Kellogg. They also further swore "that Mr. Peck did not use
that language in the hearing of either of them and they did not believe he
uttered the words attributed to him."
It will be seen that these five men distinctly
charge in their affidavit that Mr. Kellogg swore to a falsehood. It is perhaps
sufficient answer to the charge for us to say, that Mr. Kellogg has the names
of eighteen reputable citizens, who say that Mr. Peck did use substantially the
language attributed to him and some of them have offered to make affidavit to
the fact if desired.
After election Messrs. Palmer and Wheeler
apologized to Mr. Kellogg and stated that the affidavit as published in the Journal
was not the affidavit they signed and they cheerfully signed the following
statement which was published in the Journal on Tuesday last:
We, the undersigned, desiring to correct a
wrong impression in reference in a certain affidavit published in the DAILY JOURNAL
of Cortland on the 31st of October last, and to which our names were attached
and in which it appeared that we said "that Mr. Peck did not use that
language in the hearing of either of us and that we do not believe he uttered
the words attributed to him," would hereby state, that no
such language as the above appeared in said affidavit signed by us, and we
further state that no authority was ever given by us to change said affidavit
to read as it appeared in print and although some such language had been
written in the affidavit before it was offered us for signature a portion of it
was stricken out by our direction and so changed that on no account should it
appear that we were accusing Mr. Kellogg and Brownell or either of them of
falsehood in any respect.
SAM'L L. PALMER,
J. F. WHEELER.
The editor of the Journal in
commenting upon the above says that the affidavit "was printed exactly as
furnished." In a conversation with Mr. Kellogg the editor of the Journal
stated that the document was furnished by some of Mr. Peck's workers, but
that the original had been lost or destroyed and that he couldn't recollect
which particular worker brought it to him.
Of course not. It is fortunate
sometimes to have a particularly bad memory on important subjects. Of course,
if the original affidavit could be produced, and it should transpire that the Journal
had printed the part that Palmer and Wheeler required to be stricken out
before they would sign, things might be made uncomfortably warm for the guilty
party. There was evidently a large sized darky somewhere in the cord wood, and
the parties engaged in the affair were willing to do most anything to make it
appear that Peck had never used the language attributed to him. They did not
propose to allow the good character of any one man to stand in the way of their
desires. The Journal containing the affidavit, that Palmer and Wheeler
say they never made, was sent broadcast through the county and the parties who
were guilty of thus attempting to blacken the character of an honest, upright
citizen ought to be exposed.
Farmers' Institute.
The County Council, P. of H.,
at their session Dec. 1, directed the appointment of the following named
committee, representing the different Granges in the county, to aid in securing
a full attendance at the session of the Farmers' Institute which will be held
at the Court House Dec. 26: Blodgett Mills, W. E. Russell; Hunt's Corners, Wm.
E. Hunt; East Homer, Mrs. S. M. Byram; Little York, L. F. Rice; Truxton, Mrs.
J. O. Wicks; Chicago, G. C. Thompson; Preble, F. J. Collier; Cuyler, Adam
Petrie; Marathon, N. J. Smith; Virgil, Frank Price; Cortlandville, J. L.
Kinney; McGrawville, M. C. Bean; Cincinnatus, F. M. Fish; South Cortland, Geo.
Moore; Freetown, Chauncey Smith; Harford Mills, W. W. Parker; Willett, A. O.
Tennant.
N. F. WEBB, W. M.,
S. M. BYRAM, Secy.
Chicago Grange.
At a regular meeting of the
Chicago Grange No. 446, Dec. 5, the following were duly elected officers to
serve for the year 1892.
Master—N. F. Webb.
Overseer—M. R. Wood.
Lecturer—George H. Hyde.
Steward—H. B. Watkins.
Assistant Steward—Fred H.
Wheeler.
Chaplin—Mrs. J. A. Calvert.
Treasurer—Warren [Hoaglin.]
Secretary—Geo. H. Gillen.
Gatekeeper—Chas. Eccleston.
Pomona—Mrs. John Gallagher.
Flora—M. R. Wood.
Ceres—Geo. H. Gillen.
Lady Asst. Steward—Maud
Gallagher.
Organist—Mrs. N. F. Webb.
Chorister—J. A. Calvert.
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