News from 1902 (January)

From the Buffalo Evening News unless otherwise noted.

January 3 - The New York State building at the Pan-American Exposition is now the property of the Buffalo Historical Society. This disposition of the property was provided for in the original law creating the State Commission and authorizing the construction of the handsome edifice. The Historical Society met yesterday afternoon, and President D. N. Lockwood, who came for the purpose, prsented the deed of the property to the society. In making delivery of the evidence of title Mr. Lockwood made a graceful speech of compliment and President Andrew Langdon was equally felicitous in reply.

Mr. J.N. Adam resigned as a member of the executive board and Mr. J. J. McWillliams was elected to succeed him. A formal vote of thanks was ordered to be given to President Langdon for his efforts in behalf of the society, now so happily crowned with success.

The deed is a handsome piece fo legal draughting , engrossed and illuminated and artistic in its arrangements of sentences. The society will occupy the building next Monday and move its collections as soon as is practicable. These include 12,000 volumens and 20,000 pamphlets, as well as many treasures  in natural history. The present office force will remain in service of the society. Miss E. M. Edwards, librarian, resigned at the end of last year.

There is to be a Lincoln room in the building, but other assignments of space for memorials have not been made. The Lincoln collection made by the late Julius Francis is to be placed in the Lincoln room.

January 4 (Associated Press)New York - An exhaustive report of the trial, execution, autopsy and mental status of Czolgosz, the assassin of President McKinley, is given in the New York Medical Journal  for January 4. The report embodies the result of much careful investigation by Dr. Charles F. MacDonald and Eward A. Spitzka of this city. The question which these investigators set themselves to answer was, "When Czolgosz shot the President, did he know the nature and quality of the act that he was doing, and that the act was wrong?"

The reply to these questions which at the same time embodies the entire history of the case from the trial of the criminal to his execution, and the disposal of his remains, takes up nearly 12 pages in the New York Medical Journal and, divested of all technicalities, it to the effect that Czolgosz was sane and responsible for the offense, though everything in his history, according to the medical experts, pointed to the existence in him of the social disease, anarchy.

Dr. MacDonald concludes his report with the declaration that Czolgosz, when he assassinated President McKinley, was in all respects a sane man - both legally and medically - and fully responsible for his act.

Mr. Spitzka, who made the autopsy, concluded his report as follows: " Taking all in all, the verdict must be 'Socially diseased and perverted , but not mentally diseased.' The most horrible violations of human law can not always be condoned by the plea of insanity. 'The wild beast slumbers in us all. It is not always necessary to invoke insanity to explain its awakening.'"

January 4 - Obstructionists have already caused a loss of $13,000 to the Pan-American Exposition Company, which means a further loss of just that sum for the Exposition creditors. Over a month ago the Chicago House Wrecking Company  made an offer of $93,000 for the buildings. The executive committee accepted the offer, but before it could deliver the goods certain creditors stepped in with liens and attachments, which held up further steps to consummate the sale.

In the meantime, the Chicago House Wrecking Company discovered, it is said, that the Government building did not belong to the Exposition, and used this as an excuse to scale down its bid. It now offers $80,000 for the buildings. Inasmuch as the Chicago House Wrecking Company has wrecked every Exposition since that held in Chicago and the Government buildings have never been included with the Exposition companies' buildings, it is believed that the pretended discovery is merely a blind to cover a bold attempt to get the buildings at a lower price since there is no competition in sight.

However, this does not alter the fact that the opposition of the creditors to the sale is hurting themselves by lowering the price for the buildings, and it is urged that they withdraw their opposition at once lest the Chicago House Wrecking Company make the further discovery that the buildings are constructed of staff instead of marble, and lower its offer again correspondingly. It is pointed out that the constant depreciation of the Exposition property must be borne by the creditors eventually.

January 6 - Justice Kenefick made an order in the Supreme Court chambers this morning that tears a wide hole in the contention of the first mortgage holders that their claims upon the property of the Pan-American Exposition Company are prior to those of all other creditors. In effect, the order of Judge Kenefick makes the contractors the preferred creditors of the Pan-American Exposition Company.

Substantially the order directs the Exposition Company to place in the hands of the clerk of the Court about $10,000 to secure the claims of Timothy McEvoy & Son, being a sum equal to the judgment secured by the plaintiffs against the Exposition Company by default, for plumbing done for the Exposition. The order also includes the expenses of securing the judgment together with the Sheriff's and custodians' fees.

The money is to be placed in the hands of the clerk of the court, free from the first and second mortgages and from the liens of all other creditors, and is to be paid over by him to McEvoy & Son, under the judgment secured by them, or at the end of the next trial of the suit, if the judgment proceedings are reopened and the plaintiffs are successful again.

By the term of the order, the plaintiffs on their part are to withdraw the Sheriff and his deputies from control of the Exposition property as soon as the money is paid into the hands of the clerk of the court. This will permit the Exposition Company to sell the property to the Chicago House Wrecking Company without any interference from the Sheriff's office unless some other creditor gets out another judgment and execution in the meantime.

The order must be complied with inside of two days. The decision of Justice Kenefick was made after listening to the arguments of August Becker, attorney for McEvoy & Son, and Robert F. Schelling, attorney for the Exposition Company, which were made before him last Thursday.   A copy of the order will be served upon Mr. Schelling this afternoon.

The most significant feature of the order is the opportunity it affords the other construction firms  to slip in ahead of the bondholders. If McEvoy & Son are able to get their claims satisfied in the face of the contention that the mortgages of the bondholders covered all the Exposition property, there would seem to be nothing to prevent other construction creditors from going and doing likewise.

Franklin C. Locke of the firm of Rogers, Locke & Milburn, attorneys for the first mortgage bondholders, has prepared the necessary papers to foreclose the mortgage upon the property of the Exposition Company.  The necessary notices to the Exposition Company, together with all the Exposition creditors and lien holders who are made parties to the action will be issued this afternoon or tomorrow. The mode of the procedure will be similar to that in any mortgage foreclosure. Copies of the summons and complaint will be served upon all the defendants, who will have 20 days in which to file their answer.

It is Mr. Locke's expectation that when the case comes into court, probably the Equity term, the creditors will come to an agreement  to permit the sale of the buildings, the price of which will be held by the court and the possession of which will then be the object of the legal struggle instead of the somewhat destructible Exposition buildings.

Mr. Lock will look after the interests of the bondholders during the trial of the action, Mr. Milburn being debarred by his position as president of the Pan-American Company, the principal defendant in the case.

January 8 - Shortly before 5 o'clock yesterday afternoon the summons and complaint in the foreclosure action which has been threatened for some time against the Pan-American property was filed with the County Clerk. The complaint is different from the usual foreclosure complaints in that it asks for the appointment of a receiver who will be able to negotiate the sale of the property.

As is customary in suits of this kind, the defendants named are persons or corporations claiming to have an interest in the property sought to be foreclosed. In this case, besides the Pan-American Exposition Company, the defendants named are: Timothy McEvoy & Son, George Kempf, M.G. Kempf, H.H. Baker, H.A. Baker, Thomas Warren, Mayo & Rohrer Co., Thomas Brown, J.J.Dunnavant, Frederick W. Thompson, William G. Thomas, John W. Danforth Company, Hanley-Casey Company, DeWitt D. Tower, William F. and Henry W. Wendt, constituting the Buffalo Forge Company, James E. Leslie, Lafayette L. Grove, Bronson C. Rumsey, Dexter P. Rumsey, John G. Milburn and J.N. Scatcherd.

The plaintiff in the action is the Fidelity Trust Company. Attorney Franklin D. Locke prepared the complaint. Of course, the foreclosure is subject to the recent decision of Judge Kenefick reopening the judgment secured by the defendants, Timothy McEvoy & Son, and requiring the Exposition Company to pay $10,000 in to court pending the determination of this action.

The complaint sets forth that this action pertains to the issue of the first mortgage bonds made in July 1900, amounting to $2,500,000 in par value; that the Fidelity Trust Company, in its capacity of trustee, certified to the issue and accepted the first mortgage as security.

The complaint states that 93 percent of the principal has been paid as follows: On Sept. 14, 1901, 50 percent; on Oct. 26, 38 percent; on Nov. 1, 5 percent. This leaves 7 percent unpaid. In other words, $2,325,000 of the principal has been paid and $175,000 still remains unpaid. The unpaid portion became due on Jan.1 last, together with interest from Sept. 14, 1901.

The demands made, aside from the appointment of a receiver who is to pay into court the proceeds of the sale, are: that the owners of the bonds be determined and the amounts due to each be fixed; that John G. Milburn and J.N.Scatcherd be required to give up such exposition property as they hold as trustees and that, when the property is sold, and all the costs of the action are paid, the proceeds be divided among the bondholders.

The beginning of this action introduces all sorts of complications, not the least being, it is said, the blocking of the plan to sell the buildings to the Chicago House Wrecking Company at its offer of $80,000. The answer to the complaint must be filed with the Trust Company's lawyer within 20 days and will be awaited with interest.

January 8 (Letter to the Editor) - Please favor me, through "Everybody's Column," with the following information:

1. Has Congress made an appropriation of $5,000,000 for the St. Louis World's Fair and, if so, on what terms or conditions?

2. Was the $500,000 appropriated by Congress for the Pan-American Exposition exclusively for the Government exhibit or the Exposition generally?

3. Has Congress shown any partiality in favor of the St. Louis Exposition?

Constant Reader

Congress expropriated $5,000,000 for the World's Fair at St. Louis. A condition is in the bill that the gates should be closed on Sunday. The $500,000 appropriated for Buffalo was for the Government exhibit only. For the third question, draw your own inferences.

January 8 - Attaches of the County Clerk's office, some of whom claim to be experts on complaints in foreclosure, think they have discovered a flaw in the summons and complaint filed yesterday by Franklin D. Locke for the Fidelity Trust Company against the Pan-American Exposition Company and others. The mistake, apparently, is merely a clerical error that could be corrected easily by an order from the court and pertains to a description of property.

As will be recalled by those who watched the early work of the Exposition Company, two lots were bought outright by the company at the southwest corner of Delaware Avenue and Amherst Street. They were known as the Ortner and Gohn lots, and are held in trust for the Exposition Company by John G. Milburn and John N. Scatcherd, who are co-defendants in the foreclosure suit. This, so far as the clerks in the County Clerk's office know, is the only property bought by the Exposition company, and the same clerks assert positively no property is owned by the Exposition Companyt at the southeast corner of Elmwood and Amherst Street.

Yet, one paragraph reads: "That, among the properties intended to be covered by such mortgage, and which were covered by the mortgage, were certain premises situated in the said city of Buffalo at the southeasterly corner of Elmwood Avenue and Amherst Street."

The description of this property is then made by range and township and is followed by the specific "metes and bounds" description, which begins with the words: "Beginning at the point of intersection of the southerly line of Amherst Street and the westerly line of Delaware Avenue."

The County Clerk's clerks assert both descriptions are intended for the same plot of ground and that the property meant is that at the southwest corner of Delaware Avenue and Amherst Street. If their contention is correct it will be necessary to apply to the courts for orders remedying the defects and more delay will ensue.

January 10 - There will be no opposition on the part of the attorneys for the Exposition creditors to the proposition of the bondholders to have a receiver appointed to sell the Exposition buildings and hold the money subject to the decision of the court as to which class of creditors will ultimately get it.

The receiver will not be appointed very soon, however. Not until the 20 days given the other creditors to answer the summons and complaint in the proceedings to foreclose the mortgage of the bondholders shall have expired, can the attorney for the bondholders file a formal demand with the court for a receiver.

Love & Quackenbush, who represent claims of construction creditors aggregating $400,000, state that they will not oppose the proposition. Mr. Quackenbush said to a NEWS reporter this morning:

"I think it will be to the advantage of all to have the buildings turned into money as soon as possible."

"Will you oppose the foreclosure proceedings?"

"No. Our clients have shown no disposition to go into any legal battles. They trust to the Exposition Company to do the right thing."

"But if the mortgage is foreclosed there will not be anything left for the creditors outside of the bondholders."

"That may be, but there is little question of the right of the mortgage holders to the Exposition property. I don't think my clients will raise any issue about that. They are waiting in faith and hope for the charity of Congress."

Spaulding & Sullivan, attorney for the Hanley-Casey Company of Chicago, also express the belief that it is for the interest of all to have the receiver appointed. August Becker, the rapid-fire attorney for Timothy McEvoy & Son, states that the appointment of a receiver does not affect his clients in any way, as the Exposition Company is ordered to put up $10,000 in money with which to satisfy the judgment obtained by his client. If the Exposition Company does not do this the Sheriff will remain in charge and keep the receiver and all other claimants except McEvoy & Son off the premises. It is claimed that the receiver can't sell the buildings as long as the Sheriff holds them.

One attorney takes the ground that the trustee of the first mortgage bondholders, in consenting to the payment of 30 percent of the indebtedness to the construction creditors, sacrificed their right to the rest of the money due to them, the bondholders, as they wantonly gave away money that they might have retained. Having given up this, amounting to about $180,000, which would have wiped out the money accruing on their mortgage, they have no further claim on any other money coming to the Exposition. As to the claims of the second mortgage bondholders, who assert that $500,000 is due them on their bonds, the attorney contends that they had $500,000 worth of stock given them, for which they never paid a cent, and that if they go into court with their claims they will be required to pay up for their stock and the money derived from this will wipe out the indebtedness of the Exposition Company to them.

Robert F. Schelling, attorney for the Exposition Company, went to New York yesterday. It is believed he went to confer with Judge Kenefick.

January 10 - Through the hands of Mr. Ogden P. Letchworth, as treasurer of the Railroad Day Committee, which had in charge the exercises of that famous occasion in the Pan-American season, the NEWS today receives a check for $257.29 to apply on the Buffalo McKinley Monument fund.

This money is the balance left in the hands of the committee after paying all the bills for the Railroad Day celebration and by a vote of the gentlemen in charge the amount is turned over to the custody of the NEWS for the benefit of the proposed McKinley Monument memorial.

With this generous remembrance of the project, the total cash now in hand for the fund is $409.19, with unconditional subscriptions held amounting to $210 and conditional ones aggregating $1060, or a total of $1670.19 in money and pledges. The conditional subscriptions are for various amounts running from $10 to $500, the largest one being for the latter amount and specifying that the monument must be placed in Niagara Square.

While Buffalo has been letting drag the placing of a memorial here to express the city's grief over the tragedy of last September, the city of Durham, N.C., has secured a fund and has ordered a bronze monument of the third martyred President to be placed in the grounds of Trinity College at that place. Buffalo needs to awaken to a condition which is now closely approaching actual disgrace.

January 11 - Commissioner of Public Works Ward opened bids yesterday for alterations that will be required in the City Convention Hall so the new Temple of Music organ can be installed there. The bids indicate that the work will cost a little more than was thought at first under the estimates given by former Superintendent of Public Buildings Frank T. Reynolds.

The bids were as follows: Kenna & Hausman, $3949; John & Frank Pettit, $4953; Henry Harder, $3965; Hoffmeyer Brothers, $4136; and Joseph Metz, $4395.

These bids make no provision for a new curtain for the stage in the Convention Hall as has been advocated by some people.

January 12 - Col. John C. Byrne, commandant of the Pan-American police force, and Police Surgeon Daggett have completed their reports of the force on duty at the Exposition and printed copies have been issued.

A total of $196,250.67 was expended in maintaining the force. Of this amount, payrolls, police, took $156,114.15; clerks, $2407.26. Police equipment cost $25, 259.34; furniture, beds, printing, stationery, etc. $12,469.92. Those who took application blanks numbered 4729, while only 2402 filled the blanks and returned them. Police Surgeon Daggett examined 1278 of these men and passed 507. Of the total number passed, 379 were assigned to duty, but 99 resigned later on and 227 were honorably discharged at the end of their term of service.

Lost and stolen property made an imposing showing. Stolen property that was reported aggregated $1007.05 in value, while 1338 articles found were valued at $8249.19.

Petit larceny, fence jumping and disorderly conduct formed the bulk of the charges preferred against the 351 persons arrested. Only 27 arrests were made on a charge of intoxication. The arrest of the assassin of President McKinley was the most important.

January 15 - As a result of the order made by Justice Kenefick in chambers last Saturday afternoon, the deputy sheriffs have been withdrawn from the Exposition grounds, which now are in charge of Newcomb Carlton and Walter Dubey, Robert Cherry, George Weber and two other men.

January 17 - Robert F. Schelling, an attorney for the Pan-American Exposition Company, hopes to sell the buildings next week to the Chicago Wrecking Company at its bid of $80,000. Meantime creditors of the company who believe they have first claim on the money are preparing to press the claims in court. Attorney Moses Shire, representing Thomas Brown, insists his client's claim of $29,000 should be paid before any other debts of the company are paid.

January 21 - Newcomb Carlton was elected vice-president and chief executive officer of the Bell Telephone Company at a meeting of the board of directors at 19 West Seneca street yesterday afternoon.

The announcement was made in a statement issued by the directors to the effect that Mr. Carlton succeeds Col. Parker, that he will begin his new duties at once and that although new to the telephone business it is expected that the administrative ability he displayed at the Pan-American Exposition as Director of Works will shortly prove beneficial to both the Telephone Company and its subscribers.

The appointment will be gratifying to all who knew Mr. Carlton at the Exposition. His rare executive ability, indefatigable application and invariable courtesy both to the men under his charge as well as to those having business relations with him stamped him as a valuable man for any position. While the telephone company is to be congratulated in the acquisition of Mr. Carlton it is the general opinion that if he be given free rein it will be the public that will be the chief gainer by his new position.

January 21 [Associated Press, Albany] - The annual meeting of the New York State Bar Association opened here today. The feature of the session was the address of Mr. WIlliam B. Hornblower of New York City, president of the association on "the State Constitution of 1894 as Affecting Appellate Tribunals."

...The following officers were elected: President, John G. Milburn of Buffalo...

January 23 - Coroner Danser replevined a quantity of goods, valued at $4000, from former Sheriff Caldwell this morning. The goods were to be sold at the Niagara Storage Company's warerooms at 222 Niagara Street at 11 o'clock this morning. Coroner Danser reached the place just in time to stop the sale.

Part of the goods replevined were seized from Harrison N. Vedder by Caldwell on Jan. 15. They consisted of $3000 worth of novelties. Attorney August Becker is looking after Mr. Vedder's interests.

Mr. Vedder, through his attorney, began an action in the Supreme Court a few days ago to replevin the goods. The papers were served on Coroner Danser yesterday afternoon. The coroner served them on Caldwell this morning. The goods replevined were seized from Joseph M. Gleason the same day. They were also novelties and were valued at $1000. All the goods were seized on the Pan-American grounds.

Coroner Danser had the goods removed to a storage house at 40 Pearl Street. John Williams was appointed watchman over the goods. Coroner Danser gave a bond for $8000 through the National Surety Company for proper protection of the goods.

January 27 - The Board of Fire Commissioners this morning sent a communication to the Common Council stating that Francis Almy has offered the department 8500 feet of 2 1/2 inch rubber lined cotton fire hose of the same quality as that now in use by the department, for 65 cents a foot. The regular market price of this hose, if purchased new, would be $1 a foot. The hose offered by Mr. Almy is that used at the Pan-American Exposition, and the board recommended that if it stands the regular test as required by the regulations, it be purchased.

 

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