Potter County Journal

              V.
CinrntB |0ttrnal
^
ESTABLISHED 1848.
COUDERSPORT, PA., WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 1898.
VOLUME 49, NUMBER 48
GREATEST
OF HEROES
WASHINGTON   LETTER.
Eight Men Who Faced Almost Certain Death.
BLEW UP THEIE OWN BOAT.
Hie  Merrimac   Sunk  In  the  Entrance to   Santiago  Harbor.
tJeatenant Hobson aud IIIh Itrave Cre\T Were Jfot .Serii>usly Jujuied, but Were Captured by tlie Spaniard. — Admiral Cervera, Kecuguiziug Their Bravery, Offers to Exchauge Them For Sp::s:Bh Prisoners Held by the United States, and Tliis Will Be IJone — Probably a Spanish Torpedo Boat Destroyed, Sunk by One of Our ^VarshipB — Military In¬ vasion BelnR Rushed by the War De¬ partment—Otlier News Relating to the War.
PORT ANTONIO, Jamaica, June 6.— By one of the most brilliant exploits Jn naval annals the cork has been driven into the bottle of Santiago de Cuba and the Spanish fleet could not be more secure were the entrance to that harbor doored, barred and dou- bled-locked and the key dropped into the bottomless depth of the sea.
Lieutenant Richmond P. Hobson of Ithe flagship New York, with a volun¬ teer crew of seven men under cover of darkness after the moon had se't, shortly after 3 o'clock Friday morning, ran the big collier Merrimac into ihe throat of the harbor, swung her broad- eide to across the channel and then exploded and sank her. He succeeded In his desperate enterprise under the firee cf the batteries and forts which guard the entrance, without support from the fleet.
Ensign Powell, also of the New Tork, with a steam launch, crept close under the guns of Morro castle to take (iff the heroes uf the Merrimac and re¬ mained there pluckily until daylight discovered his position, without see¬ ing a trace of the Merrimac's daring crew. To have remained longer would have been sheer madness. As it was he retired under a heavy fire from Mauser rifles and the heavy guns cf the batteries
Lieutenant Hobson and his men are now prisoners, as a flag of truce an¬ nounces and will be exchanged in due course of time; but that their mission was successful, admits of no doubt. Ensign Powell distinctly saw the spars of the wrecked ship in the middle of the channel L.ieutena.nt Hobson plant- fed her at the very point he had se¬ lected.
Cushing's memorable feat in blowing up the Confederate ram Albemarle is over matched by Hobson's act, for Cushinp's men crept up Albemarle sound at midnight and fell upon an unsuspecting foe. Hobson took his Bhlp, over 300 feet long, into the very focus of a dozen batteries with the enemy at the guns and blew her up. Discovery at the end of his journey was inevitable and death was almost certain. No name, therefore, can be ¦written higher on war's Temple of Fame than this.
HEROES EVERY ONE.
Names of the  Brave Men That Will Live in History.
PORT-AU-PKIXCE, June 6.—The names of those engaged in the hazard¬ ous undertaking are:
Lieutenant Hichmond Pearson Hob- eon, assistant naval constructor, was born at Greensboro, Ala., on Aug. 17, 1870, was appointed, after a competitive examination, to the naval academy in May, 18&0. He was the youngest mem¬ ber of the class, but graduated at the head of his li companions. He has studied engineering, under the aus¬ pices of the United States government In France, and was made assistant na¬ val constructor in 1891. He is the au¬ thor of the semi-political work enti¬ tled, "The Situation and Outlook in Europe," and was assigned to the flag¬ ship New York when Rear Admiral Bampson sailed for the "West Indies. Lieutenant Hobson is a nephew of John N. Morehead of North Carolina, and Is a grandson of Chief Justice Pearson of that state. He is unmar¬ ried, and his father. Judge James M. Hobson, lives at Greensboro, Ala.
Daniel Montague is chief master at arms of the New York. He served four years in the navy, is 29 years of age. and his home is in Brooklyn.
George Charette is a gunner's mate of the first class on board the New Tork. He has served 14 years in the navy, is 31 years old and resides at Lowell, Mass
J. C. Murphy is a coxswain of the 3owa.
Oscar Deignan is a coxswain of the Merrimac  and  is about  24 years old.
John P. Phillips is a machinist of the first class, belonging to the Merrimac. He Is 36 years of age and his home Is in Boston.
John Kelly is a water tender, about 85 years old. His home is near Glas¬ gow,  Scotland.
H. Clausen, who slipped on board the Merrimac without permission, in order to take part in the expedition, is a (Continued on 7th page.)
rZ] Washington. June (1, 1898. ^President McKinley believes and every member of the Cabinet agrees with him, tliat the war movements now under way will as soon as they are successfully carried out, as they are certain to be, bring the war to a close by compelling Spain to sue for peace. These movements include the capture of Santiago de Cuba, upon which a combined attack is to be made by the army and navy just as soon as the troops can be got into position—they have probably already been landed—and the cap¬ ture or destruction of the Spanish fleet in the harbor at that place. Just as soon as Santiago has been captured, the army and navy will make a combined move on Porto Rico, and when that island has been captured it is believed that Spain will gladly evacuate Cuba in order to get peace.
The last cable from Cuba, except¬ ing the one to Key West, has been cut. and General Blanco is now not only cut off from Spain, but from nearly all of the Cuban cities, as the insurgents make it impossible for him to maintain overland wires from Havana.
No more daring deed has been performed during this war, or any other war, than the sinking of the U. S. collier Merrimac in order to obstruct the narrow channel at the enterance of Santiago harbor, by a volunter crew of seven men under Lieut. Hobson. These heroes were all captured by the Spanish, but they will not remain in prison long, and President McKinley will see that they are properly rewarded when they get out.
The Senate has passed the war revenue bill. As passed by the Senate it authorizes the issue of 8300,000,000 in bonds and directs the coinage of the silver bullion in the treasury at   the rate  of $4,000,-
000 a month and the issuing of sil¬ ver certificates for that amount. The bill has been sent to a conference committee, and the House conferrees will insist upon increasing the bonds to $500,000,000, ,as provided in the original House bill, and upon striking out the silver coinage clause, and they expect to carry their point in both instances. The final vote upon the bill in the Sen¬ ate was 48 to 28.
Senator Wolcott made a manly re¬ ply to the implied charge of Senator Allen that the Bimetallic Commis¬ sion uselessly and extravagantly wasted an appropriation of $100,000 during its trip to Europe, in which he said : "I de-sire to inform the Senator from Nebraska that the three commissoners spent more than six months in Europe, travelling where their duties took them. They were accompanied by a Secretary, and the entire expense of the work accomplished was only #16.000. And
1 desire to add that every member of the commisson, in accepting the ap- pointmentand performing his duties, sacrificed thousands of dollars. It is undignified and unbefitting a Senator of the United States to stand in his place on this floor and suggest that the commission spent money it was not ju.stified in spending. I am getting tired of hearing that sort of suggestion from the Senator from Nebraska. It is not the first, the second, nor the third time he has thrown them out. Through him they are uow being circulated in the west by means of 'patent insides,' which constitute the bone and sinew and most of the brains of the popu¬ list party." Mr. Wolcott concluded by expressing his belief in the ulti¬ mate success of international bimet¬ allism.
No one in Washington is worry¬ ing over the news given out by the Spanish government that a large Spanish fleet is on the wav to Ma¬ nila. Even if it were true, where¬ in it would be difl:'erent from any oiher news given out by the Span¬ ish government, it would cause no worry in Washington. Admiral Dewey is amply able to take care of any fleet that Spain can send against him. even without any reinforce¬ ments, and it is certain that the cruiser Charleston and the first iu- staluKMit of troops--the second in¬ stalment will start from San  Fran¬
cisco this week—will be with Dewey before any Spanish fleet can possi¬ bly get to Manila.
Hawaii annexation may not be ac¬ complished this week, but the reso¬ lution providing therefor will al¬ most certainly be taken up and' adopted by the House this week. Owing to the latitude given the minority by the rules ot the Senate, no one is predicting when that body will act. But the adoption of the resolution by the House will open the way for annexation in another way, if the minority of the Senate succeed in preventing a vote being reached upon the resolution. The President has ample authority to .seize Hawaii as a war measure, and as its possession is considered abso¬ lutely necessary as a stopping place for our ships bound to and from the Philippine Islands, there is little doubt that he will do so if the Senate fails to act before the adjournment of Congress.
The volunteers will not be de¬ prived of their votes.at the Congres¬ sional election, if Representative Lacey's bill, which has been favor¬ ably reported to the House from the election's committee, becomes a law and it probably will. The bill gives the volunteer soldier the right to cast his vote for .Congressman, wherever he may be stationed. The war will probably be over before the Congressional election, but some of the volunteers are likely to be continued in service until after that time, especially those who have gone to the Philippines and those who will go to Porto Rico.
J. CLARK QREEN.
On Sunday morning, at the home of his father, Peter Green, on Fifth street, Clark, as he was familiarly known, passed from this life, in which he had been apatient sufferer, to rest. He was the youngest son of Peter and Mary Judd Green, and was born in Hebron township on Nov. 9th, 1868. The greater portion of his life was spent near the home of his childhood, where his friends were as numerous as were his ac¬ quaintances. He spent some time in the West,—in Illinois and Ohio, but returned to his home four years ago. He was for some time manager of the Main street Cafe, until his health became so poor that his physician advised a change. Last fall he went South, hoping to find the change beneficial, but that fear¬ ful disease, consumption, had so firm a hold upon him that he was advised to return to his home. For the last few weeks he has been a patient sufferer until on Sunday morning, death came to his relief.
He was one of five children, three of whom, with their father, survive him, J. HigleyGreen, of Cross Fork, P. J. Green, of Olean, and Mrs. Eva Towner, of Towanda. He was a member of the Knights of Pythias, of Painesville, Ohio, and of Minne¬ waskie Tribe I. O. R. M., under whose auspices the funeral will be held at the family residence at 2 p. m. to-day. Rev. E. S. Toensmeier officiating.
Farmers'   Institutes.
The County Board of Farmers' Institute Managers, will meet at the County Commissioners' office on the second Tuesday of June, to arrange for the place where Institutes are to be held this season. All of our peo¬ ple who desire Institutes, ought to attend this meeting and present their claims. This Board is com¬ posed of the Local Member of the State Board of Agriculture, and one representative from each County Agricultural Society, the Pomona Gi'ange and County Alliances. If you find that you cannot attend this meeting, address a letter with your request to Chairman of Board of Institute Managers, care of County Commissioners.
A suitable hall for the meeting ought to be provided, free of charge, by the locality wishing the Insti¬ tute.
W. A. Gardner, Chairman of Local Committee, per C. L. Peck.
Republican State Conyention.
The Will of the People Registered by
the Delegates Assembled at
Harrisburg.
These few lines are put in to fill up. in place of war news that com- eth not.
WANAMAKER    BADLY    BEATEN.
The State Convention, which was held on June 2nd. in the big opera house at the State capital, has been described as ' 'tame.'' It may Jiave had that appearance to those accus¬ tomed to witness Democratic con¬ ventions, but the quiet demeanor ot both the victorious and the van¬ quished told how graciously good Republicans can bow to the will of the majority. There was no gloom there, for from flashing eyes shone the suppressed excitement as burn¬ ing words of eloquence fell from the lips of some orator, and when the name of McKinley was heard, or the namesof some old knight or new hero, cheers rent the stifling air breathed by seven thousand men and women. No more earnest or patriotic assemblage has responded to the call of any party in any state, and when one orator said, "This year of our righteous war is no time to turn traitor to the party of Wm. McKinley," the demonstration was anything but tame.
To look into the eyes of the three hundred and sixty delegates, note their intelligence and listen to their manly voices, was answer enough to the reckless and insulting sneers that these men were doing the bid¬ ding of a "boss." He would, in¬ deed, be a great man who could, year after year, keep in perfect sub¬ servience to his selfish will such men as handed up their credentials as representatives of the Republi¬ can party on this occasion. And when "-e reflect that in every pre¬ cinct of this great commonwealth every member of the Republican party has an equal opportunity to express his choice, we feel that any charge of corruption or coercion is an insult to the rank and file of the party. Their answer to the charges was recorded in this state conven¬ tion, and the man who had started out to save the party from itself notified the convention that he had been pulled out of the race "by the representatives of the Bourse con¬ vention. '' It was well known before the convention assembled that Col. W. A. Stone would be nominated on the first ballot, but Wanamaker's letter, presented after his name had been submitted to the convention, was a surprise, and his order for all his delegates to vote for Charles W. Stone was characterized on the floor of the convention as an example of the most arrogant bossism ever ex¬ hibited. The letter is publi-shed herewith.
The convention wascalledto order by State Chairman Elkin with a neat speech, and Senator Boies Pen¬ rose was unanimously chosen tem¬ porary Chairman of the convention. His address was a carefully pre¬ pared resume of the work done by the Republican party of this state for the public schools as well as in the interests of the great industries.
Committees on resolutions and permanent organization were ap¬ pointed and retired to make up their reports. The latter came in at- once with no contests for seats and Frank W. Wheaton was reported to be the permanent Chairman.
The convention proceeded to vote for the different nominees without a recess, and the roll of counties be¬ ing called, nominating speeches were made as the counties having candidates were reached. The first speech was by Thomas M. Marshall, Jr., of Allegheny, who placed in nomination William A. Stone, with an earnest, if not eloquent, speech. He was followed by Gen. B. F. Fish¬ er, of West Chester, who seconded the nomination in behalf of the soldiers, with a speech burning with patriotic fervor and eloquent in its appeal for loyalty to the soldier can¬ didate in this time of war.
Gen. Frank Reeder, of Northampr ton, was next nominated by Charles Chidsey, who made the speech of the day.    It was a masterly effort, pow¬
erful and pungent, a stinging rebuke to those whow^ere fighting the party behind masked batteries. His ref¬ erence to Governor Hastings' speech at St. Louis, nominating M. S. Quay for President of the United States, was a happy reply to the dismissal of General Reeder from Hastings' cabinet becau.se he was a Quay man.
He said that no great man in the history of this country had escaped calumny, and General Reeder was no exception. Lincoln had been called a buffoon. Grant a butcher, Hayes a fraud, Garfield and Blaine corrupt, but their enemies had been silenced, while the lives of these men stand out today clear as the noon-day sun. "The history of Judas Iscariot can be told in four short sentences. He got some money. He was a traitor. He went out and hanged himself. He went to his own place. History repeats itself, and those who would betray the Republican party may profit by his example." Next came the nom¬ ination of John Wanamaker by a young orator from Philadelphia, in an eloquent speech, followed imme¬ diately by the withdrawal of the name.
At this point, Fred W. Fleitz, of Scranton, offered the report of the committee on resolutions and read the resolutions from the stage in a clear voice. They were unanimous¬ ly adopted.
The nominating speeches were re¬ sumed and ex-Senator Allen, of Warren presented the claims of Charles W. Stone in an able manner. It was an earnest plea for harmony urging that the nomination of C. W. Stone would avert possible defeat. The roll was called with the two Stones and Genei-al Reeder in the field. The result was changed at the close of the voting by Reeder's five delegates changing to W. A. Stone, making him 200 to Charles W. Stone s 163.
The vote for Lieutenant Governor stood: General Gobin 226, J. C. Grady 70, R. Cochran 32.
James W. Latta of Philadelphia, was nominated for Secretary of In¬ ternal Affairs and W. W. Porter for Judge of the Supi-eme Court, both by aclamation.
The ticket was completed by the renomination of Galusha A. Grow and Samuel A. Davenport for Con- gress-at-Large. A roll call, how¬ ever, was necessitated by the friends of W. C. Arnold, of Clearfild, insist¬ ing that their favorite's name should go before the convention as a con¬ testant against Grow and Daven¬ port.
The Convention adjourned at 4:15 sine die.
THE WANAMAKER  LETTER.
A. S. L. Shields, Esq.,—Dear Sir: In the event of my name being presented to the Republican state convention of June 2, 1898, this is to withdraw such nomination and ask that this letter be j^laced on re¬ cord containing my reason therefor.
I accepted the call of the state convention representing fifty-five counties, held in Philadelphia on the second day of February last, re¬ questing me to become a candidate for Governor.
It was positively understood that I did not want to be a candidate, and that I would retire whenever it seemed best to do so. At the time of my acceptance one-third of the delegates to the convention had been chosen and members of the Republi¬ can organization had declared their unwillingness to support me if I re¬ ceived the nomination of the con¬ vention. Having repeatedly stated my willingness to go forward as a candidate only until the representa¬ tives of the Bourse conference de¬ sired otherwise, I belieye I have now peformed my duty in good faith.
Witi-in the last hour I have un¬ expectedly received the following letter :
"Harrisburg, Pa., June 2. "Hon. John Wanamaker :
"At a meeting of the representa¬ tives of the Bourse meeting held this morning, the following resolu¬ tions were unanimously adopted:
"Resolved—That in view of the means employed by the Republican state organization in the election of delegates in the interest of one can¬ didate and the control of the conven-
ton by machine methods, with the obvious result of defeating, rather than registering the will of the peo¬ ple, we respectfully request you nofc to permit your name to be voted for by the said convention, and be ife further
"Resolved—That we request all delegates friendly to you to vote for Hon. Charles Wl!  Stone."
It is plain therefor that I cannot consent to be a candidate before the convention.
I may be permitted to thank all my friends throughout the State whose good will I so highly value for their earnest and hearty support of my candidacy.
There never has been a moment that I would not have withdrawn if any one of the five men named iu my letter to the Bourse meeting, or any other man of such a type of men, had been selected for Governor by any representative body of the Re¬ publican leaders.
Inasmuch as the Hon. Charles W, Stone was one of those suggested at the Bourse convention, it is most agreeable to me to now express my satisfaction with the recommenda¬ tion by the members of the Bourse conference in favor of Charles W. Stone receiving the votes of your convention.
I think it proper and fair to take your time to say briefly that the pro¬ test I have felt called upon to make against the political machine has been made within the party and against its methods and not against individuals, except so far as they represented a system of politics. I have held, up to the door of this convention, that the Republican party was wise enough, honest enough and strong enough to cor¬ rect any wrongs and abuses withiu the party. I still have that hope. There is no need for angry contro¬ versy. No one man knows it all or owns it all. Inspiration seldom carries for twenty years. A man carrying the keys of pov/er by here¬ ditary descent or holding them by cleverness or mental energy must surrender them when the tired peo¬ ple so demand.
To suffer the political machine to sell for cash the commonwealth's justice or retain squatter sover¬ eignty in the state, of national offices is only to kill the political party thus indulged. A mighty revolu¬ tion has set in within this state. Pennsylvania is no longer docile or unresisting to Republican   bossism.
Unconditional hostility to all ma¬ chine methods is the loudest war cry within Republican ranks through¬ out the commonwealth since the days of the civil war. It is not fac¬ tional unfriendliness or unrepubli- can in me with my continuous re¬ cord as a Republican that cannot be challenged, to speak thus plainly to my fellow Republicans in this hour of great peril to the party. There are indeed many unwilling to fol¬ low further a machine flag. The hopes of tens of thousands of Penn¬ sylvania freeman that centered hopefully upon this convention, should it shut its ears to the plain call of duty and simply give protec¬ tion to bosses and their slate will be found to be a narrow policy threatening party destruction. For the convention to seem to be looking for duty and inventing ways of es¬ cape from the people will, may be carried only too far. Unfairly as¬ sessed heavy taxes, extravagant and wasteful legislation and long con¬ tinued reckless manipulation of state moneys must surely bring a crop of thistles too large for the Re¬ publican party to manage. By the judgment of today's convention up¬ on the last legislative record and its machine methods the people will pass judgment on the candidate af¬ ter the convention adjourns. It could have, if it pleases, as fine a medal from the people as any Ad¬ miral Dewey will deservedly get, if it will sink the fleet of politicians who run the state for political rev¬ enue only. There are many who believe that unless it does this and very soon, that there will be a great storm to break up the Republican party from every corner of the sky. John Wanamaker.
When the letter had been read David H. Lane, of Philadelphia, with a considerable display of feel¬ ing said that Mr. Wanamaker de¬ nounces bossism, and yet there has never been displayed in a Republi¬ can convention such an arrogant ex¬ hibition of bossism as is shown in the written words of the Philadel¬ phia candidate who had just with¬ drawn from the contest.