USA > New York > Cortland County > Pioneer history; or, Cortland County and the border wars of New York, from the earliest period to the present time > Part 19
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satisfied, but like a demon hot from the infernal pit, he flew at the daughter, who in the mean time had fallen from fright, and plunged a bayonet into her body, from which spirted the vital current of life. And although the fatal instrument was seized by the wounded and dying girl, it was quickly wrested from her grasp, and with a desperation scarcely equaled in the bloody records of crime, was again and again plunged into her body. And while the younger victim of O'Donohue's cruelty was yet weltering in her warm heart's blood, Charles McKnight, who had left his house at or about 10 o'clock A. M., for the purpose of superintending some work, was attracted by certain suspicious actions of the murderer's son to the place where the horrid deed was committed. A most revolting and heart-sickening scene at once met his sight. There lay the wife, the mother,-bleeding, ghastly, dead ! A few feet distant lay the mangled form of the daughter, struggling in the terrible agonies of expiring nature. He heard her death groans, and saw her raise her hand, wet with her own blood, to wipe the death damps from her marble brow.
When Mr. McKnight first approached the spot where the fatal tragedy was enacted, his life was threatened by O'Donohue ; yet he managed to get a fair view of the murdered victims. The heartless wretch still thirsted for more blood, and called to his wife to bring him some caps that he might assassinate another of his presup- posed enemies, and add still another blot to his soul already crimsoned with the darkest hues of crime.
Before leaving him, Mr. McKnight advised him to go to the village and give himself up to the proper author- ities, presuming him to be crazy ; and as men laboring
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under the horrible malady of a diseased mind were not always responsible for their acts, perhaps he might not be hung. The advice, it would seem, was finally accepted, for O'Donohue, with his wife and son, did pass over the hills to the village, where he was finally arrested. But before leaving, under a fresh impulse of Satan, and as if to make his work of assassination more doubly certain, he returned to the bleeding, ghastly, and death - struggling victim, and again plunged the crimsoned steel into her breast.
Grim scowls pass'd o'er his dusky face Like shadows in the midnight sky ; Each fiend-like passion mark'd its trace By muttered oath or deep-drawn sigh ; With rolling eye, And stifled breath, He thought of blood, revenge, and death.
He was indicted at the October term of the County Court, 1852, and tried at the following July Court of Oyer and Terminer,-Hon. Schuyler Crippin, one of the justices of the Supreme Court, presiding, with asso- ciates John S. Dyer and Noah H. Osborne. R. H. Duell, District Attorney, and Gen. Nye, appeared on behalf of the people. Horatio Ballard and Daniel Gott, counsel.
The charge of the Judge was able, forcible and point- ed. The Jury, after an absence of forty minutes, re- turned into Court with a verdict of " Guilty of Murder."
The records of the Court contain entry of his sen- tence, [Aug. 3d, 1853.]
The sentence was duly executed, and the spirit of O'Donohue was ushered uncalled for into the presence of his Maker, wreaking with the blood of the innocent.
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After the last and final struggle between the Ameri- can Republic and the Kingdom of Great Britain, the pioneers of the Tioughnioga valley, and indeed of the yet infant county of Cortland, began to look forward to the successful achievement of such measures as the wisdom of our State legislature might devise for the better development of science and the progress of art.
It was most evident that the Tioughnioga river, as a commercial highway, could never be available to any great extent, and that other channels of communication must be provided in order to encourage enterprise and reward adventure. State roads had been laid out and were measurably improved ; and the county had been cut up into gores or townships, while each of these was made to resemble an imperfect checker board, being variously marked out by " bridle paths," or to say the least, very undesirable roads. Yet poor as they were, the brave pioneers regarded them as acquisitions of great importance. Post horses and post coaches once, and finally twice a week, gladdened the sight of the toil-worn laborer. The Erie Canal, commenced in 1817 and completed in 1825, established a more direct line of communication with the eastern cities. Previous to this, the heavy goods of our merchants were brought up to Albany by way of the North river ; were then conveyed by land to Schenectady ; then through the canal at Little Falls ; then through Wood creek, Oneida lake, Onondaga river and the Tioughnioga, or were transported by land-carriage from Albany or Utica.
Cattle were usually driven to the Philadelphia market; potash was sent to New York or Montreal ; wheat was
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shipped on rafts and arks down the Tioughnioga and Susquehanna to Baltimore.
In 1826 there was a charter granted by the New York legislature for the construction of a railroad from Syracuse to Binghamton. This was the first charter ever granted by the legislature of this State. Inter- nally shut out from the natural advantages or the more remote benefits of artificial communication with which other sections of country were blessed, the citizens located on the rich flats of Cortland, Homer and Preble, were made thrice joyful in their exultations of success. The toils, the sacrifices, and the cost of building a rail- road had not, however, been fully considered or counted, and hence the active projectors were doomed, like the inexperienced alchemist, to see their golden dreams fade away.
As the country increased in population and produc- tive resources, renewed efforts were made to revive or obtain a new charter. But up to 1848-9 nothing of im- portance took place.
In the mean time the growing West had become popu- lous, while her commercial products were of an almost unlimited magnitude. Trade east and west had mate- rially increased, as the various avenues of communica- tion fully evinced. The store-houses contiguous to the great northern lakes were filled to their utmost capacity with the valuable products of the fertile fields of a rich and vigorous soil. The Erie canal, then the most pow- erful artery of trade in the Union, and though practi- cally of very great importance, was found to be insuf- ficient for the demands. The New York and Erie Rail- road was projected and was rapidly hurrying to com-
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pletion, while connecting links were put under contract, or completed, with, in many instances, " only a remote possibility of appropriating" a very small portion of that constantly increasing trade. The coal fields of the Lackawanna valley were laid open, and the black dia- monds, which were really of more importance than the bloated mines of the Pacific coast, were exhumed, and a railroad was projected and completed, which united them with the Erie road at Great Bend, fifteen miles from Binghamton. The city of Oswego sat like a golden gem upon the shore of the lake, bearing the proud ap- pellation of " Ontario's maritime port." Syracuse, the central city, was admirably spread out like a great heart in the centre of the State, with her salt springs to "preserve and enrich the empire." And the village of Binghamton, with her ten thousand enterprising inhab- itants, sat queenlike upon the classic shores of the beautiful Susquehanna and Chenango, "receiving trib- ute and homage from both." These important locations were regarded with very great favor, and especially, when glancing at the map of the United States, it ap- peared positively evident that they were located within the most eligible and certainly the best commercial route from the seaboard to the great lakes of the west. The result thus far most amply verifies the conclusion. A few of the original charter petitioners went to work with renewed energies. The legislature was again pe- titioned, and a second charter granted. Meetings were called in various sections, and the people were ably and eloquently addressed with reference to the propriety of immediate action in behalf of the laudable enterprise. Books were opened for subscription, and early in 1850
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the footings seemed to warrant the necessary survey to be made. Thus encouraged, the enterprising actors, most of whom resided in the growing villages of Homer and Cortland, redoubled their exertions, and with their shoulders at the wheel, determined to push on the car of progress. W. B. Gilbert, Esq., an accomplished, and indeed one of the most competent and energetic engi- neers in the State, was employed to make the necessary survey.
It is not our province to refer to all the opposing influences that were brought to bear against the speedy organization of the Company, or the immediate construc- tion of the road-of the difficulties and delays attending the former-the almost unexampled stringent monetary pressure threatening to arrest the latter. These are already matters of history. They have been set forth in the more than thrilling eloquence of a Baldwin, or the persuasive and touching language of a Lawrence. The shock, though it swept over our country like the destroying host of Attila over the plains of Italy, ar- resting the progressive labors "of most other compa- nies that were struggling into being," happily had be- come too much weakened to produce a suspension, and the work went steadily on " from its commencement in 1852 to its completion in 1854." Great credit is awarded to the various efficient actors in Cortland county, for to them belongs the honor of having revived or called up from the tomb of the Capulets the old exploded sympa- thies which finally terminated in securing for the project enough of popular sentiment to place the completion of the road beyond a reasonable doubt. Nor were the active efforts of prominent citizens of Binghamton, Syr-
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acuse and Oswego unimportant or unappreciated. Their highly valued influence was productive of the most favorable results, and when their purse strings were unloosed, or their bank deposits called forth, the cheering word of "liberality" was echoed and re- echoed from one end of the Tioughnioga valley to the other.
The road having been completed, a formal opening to the public took place on the 18th and 19th of October, 1854. Returning from an eastern tour, with our family, we joined the excursion party at Binghamton. The train consisted of twenty-seven passenger cars, which were crowded to such an extent that it was impossible for only a portion to be seated. It was reported by the editor of the Railroad Journal as a " perfect jam, the people numbering twenty thousand." Our estimate fell somewhat short of this round number. The display at the various stations presented a somewhat truthful con- ception of the joy of the citizens. From every church that had a bell went forth a joyous welcome ; cannons were fired ; and bonfires and illuminations signalized the auspicious event.
The road passes through one of the most delightful and productive valleys in the State. The scenery on either side is picturesque and beautiful.
The stockholders number about two thousand.
The total cost of the road up to November 5th, 1855, is reported by Mr. Gilbert to be $2,274,394 33. Its length is eighty miles.
Aggregate miles run by all engines during the year, 272,777. Number of passengers carried in the cars, 234,560. Amount of earnings for the same number of
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months is reported at $159,489 91. Expense of oper- ating the road, $136,981 62.
It will be readily seen that the earnings fall consid- erably short of the original estimates. This seeming failure is satisfactorily accounted for by the Superin- tendent. In our mind there is no depreciation of real value. We never supposed that the estimates would be reached under the existing circumstances.
The Lake trade has been realized only to a limited extent.
" When this work was projected, the invariable and strong argument used for its construction, in reference to profitable results, was a continuous line to Lake On- tario, by which alone it could derive the benefits of that trade.
" The Directors having been unable to attain this, through the existing road from Syracuse to the lake, another Company was organized under the General Act, for the purpose of constructing a broad guage road on the east side of Onondaga lake and the Oswego river. But the necessity of an arrangement with the holders of Mortgage Bonds of the Company, whereby they could agree to withold action under the existing mortgages during the construction of the new road, suspended operations.
"Up to 1855 no agreement had been effected, which the Directors regretted, as the delay increased the financial embarrassment under which the Company labored."
In 1856 the stockholders were unable to complete the road to Oswego, as contemplated, or even to the Erie Canal, for the delivery of coal and other freight, or
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to meet their bonded and other debts, and consequently the bondholders were obliged to foreclose and sell the road in October of the same year. The Company was subsequently reorganized, the road finished, and ex- tended to the Erie Canal, and the track and machinery put in perfect repair. There was also an arrangement made at Binghamton with the New York and Erie Rail- road Company, to accommodate the cars of the Dela- ware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Company, for the transportation of their coal and other freight, mak- ing the Syracuse, Binghamton and New York Railroad the proper channel for the transportation of their coal to the Erie Canal at Syracuse, and to Lake Ontario at Oswego, the Canadas and the great west.
Since the road has been thus reorganized, it has al- ready proven profitable as an investment to the holders thereof, having, as we understand, paid the interest on its cost, and will be, as it is designed, extended to Lake Ontario, at Oswego, forming a continuous line of broad guage road to New York and Philadelphia, and in the event prove one of the best routes for travel and freight, and will realize all that was predicted or ex- pected by its early friends as a richly remunerating investment.
The Syracuse, Binghamton, and New York Railroad may, with propriety, be regarded as an invaluable link in the chain of communication between Lake Ontario and the Atlantic cities.
The lake trade is immense, and must continue to be for all future time. The inexhaustible resources of the great west, with her fertile fields, her agricultural and mineral productions, and the vast amount of eastern
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merchandise that is necessary to meet her unprecedented increase of population-the greater portion of which must pass east or west through the State of New York. The value of foreign imports from Canada at the port of Oswego was in 1845 $41,313, and in 1855 it was over $6,000,000. The whole value of import and export trade with Canada in 1845 was $2,350,409, and in 1855, over $12,000,000.
"Under the operation of the Reciprocity treaty, the trade both ways with Canada has more than doubled in 1855 over the preceding year, 1854. In 1845 the whole foreign and domestic trade of Oswego, imports and exports, did not exceed $8,000,000, and in 1855 it amounted to over $40,000,000. The tonnage of vessels enrolled and licensed at this port shows a corresponding increase."*
The free-trade principle of Canada gives to the port of Oswego a powerful increase of business.
"For six months ending September 30th last, the duties chargeable on imports arriving at Oswego, and going east in bond, were $186,009 87, in addition, the value of these bonded imports being $930,107 49."+
The flour of Oswego, the salt, gypsum, water and quick lime, and marble of Onondaga-the vast agricul- tural products of a wide and fertile surrounding country, with the iron and coal of the Lackawanna and Wyoming valleys, will give to the Syracuse, Binghamton and New York Railroad an amount of local tonnage which will surpass that of any other road of the same length in the Union.
* J. M. Schermerhorn's Report, 1855. + W. B. Gilbert's Report, 1855.
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The coal trade is to be one of great importance. If in the single city of Syracuse 2,000 cords of wood are used per day for the manufacture of salt, and otherwise, at five dollars per cord, what are we to presume will be the sum total of the coal that will be conveyed over the road when properly connected with Oswego ?
The road is regarded as being one of the best built and equipped in the State.
The agents have uniformly been enterprising and ac- tive business men ; the conductors attentive, obliging, and gentlemanly.
The retirement of the able and courteous president, Hon. Henry Stephens, was widely regretted, yet his post has been admirably filled in the person of Jacob M. Schermerhorn, Esq., to whose unremitting and labo- rious exertions the Company are mainly indebted for the final completion, and the present prosperity of the road. No man ever labored harder. No man ever suc- ceeded under more, if under equally, discouraging cir- cumstances. He should have his reward.
CHAPTER XIV.
HUNTING INCIDENTS.
Hound-like they scent the track.
IN previous chapters we have incidentally referred to the various species of animals that inhabited the wil- derness, and against whom the pioneers waged a crusade, even with musket ball and rapier knife. The repose of the settlers was frequently disturbed by the terrific howl of the wolf, the piercing scream of the great northern panther, and the unfriendly growl of the old shaggy black bear of the hemlock forest. The flocks and herds were often preyed upon to an alarming extent, and the bold pioneers were not unfrequently placed in imminent peril. They had left the happy hearth-stones of their native land, and had pitched their tents in the valleys and on the hill-sides of this then western boundary of civilization ; and, unpleasant as it was, were of necessity compelled to wage an exter- minating war against these more than savage beasts of prey. The heart chills at the recital of the often nar- row escapes from the jaws of the gaunt, hungry wolf, the more prowling, rapacious panther, or the unsociable hug of the unterrified, snarling old bear.
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The tender-hearted might shrink back at the howl of a single wolf, even in the day time ; but it took a whole clan, headed by a huge grizzly chorister, whose dis- cordant howls, snaps, and snarls made night-dark, tartarean night-tenfold more hideous, to make the veteran forest hunter quail, or feel for the particular location of his heart. The women, too,-the bold repub- lican women,-were occasionally called upon to exercise all the energies of a bold and noble spirit. We are told of one who was pursued for a distance through a winding and unfrequented glen, by a panther, whose long, greedy proportions told too truly of his powerful strength. If she hastened her step, the animal did the same. If she stopped short, he instinctively squatted as if preparing to leap upon his unarmed victim. She saw her peril, and resolved to make one bold effort at deliv- erance. Seizing a bludgeon of wood, she flew at him in a menacing attitude, uttering several successive screams as she dealt him a severe blow on that point of the proboscis which brought forth a hasty snuff and a sneeze, and turning upon his well-practised and flip- pant heels, he made a number of enormous leaps, and then seated himself in the branches of a partially de- cayed hemlock. Remembering that she was near the cabin of a successful and fearless hunter, she screamed with all her might for the bow-legged marksman. The animal not particularly relishing his treatment from the hand of the fair patroness, began to exhibit the most unmistakable evidence of a preparation to leap upon the bold defender of her forest rights. A moment more, and he hoped to gorge his ferocious rapacity with her warm heart's blood. But the sharp crack of a rifle was
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heard some twenty rods distant, just as he drew himself back to leap, and the next moment the long proportions of the mountain veteran were stretched dead at her feet. In the trunk of the decaying ancient relic, a couple of nursling "painters" were found. But in the very in- stant of leaving with them, the father, an old crippled martyr, who had snuffed upon the breeze the fresh scent of blood, was rapidly approaching. Another leaden missile, hurled from the old blue barrel, brought him to the ground. But he was not yet prepared to yield, for the victory was not yet achieved. The hunter suc- ceeded in only partially reloading his gun before the maddened animal had sprung to his feet, and was ready for a contest or measurement of strength. The youth- ful matron stood by the side of her deliverer, resolving to share in the glory of victory, or die with him in a noble effort at resistance. On he came, ten times more ferocious, but was defiantly met with such a succession of blows as to induce him to retreat and take a posi- tion in a small tree, where he might look contempt upon his assailants. The old blue barrel was again leveled with unerring aim, and in an instant the panther's brains were lying at the base of the tree.
At an early day, and at a period when Marathon was yet a wilderness, and when but a few families were located within her rugged confines, the bears, wolves and panthers made terrible havoc with the stock and poultry of the but partially protected and often unarmed pioneers. During the latter part of November, 1799, an old hunter, and native of Long Island, was passing through the country lying between the Tioughnioga river and what is now known as Freetown Centre.
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Ascending the rugged elevation, he struck an Indian trail leading in a direct line for the "pine woods." He had, however, proceeded but a short distance before he heard a sharp, piercing scream, as if coming from a female in distress. In a moment it was repeated again and again. Hurrying forward he soon heard it much plainer, and at intervals could distinctly hear moaning, as if coming from some object in nature that was suf- fering from the infliction of some horrible treatment. His anxiety was soon relieved, for just as he reached the summit of a little elevation, perhaps three-fourths of a mile west of the "panther forest," he saw to his astonishment an enormous panther spring upon a deer that was floundering upon the ground, and almost cov- ered with blood. The old and unarmed hunter paused for a moment, that he might observe the movements of the half-enraged animal, and the better concentrate his scattered thoughts ; and was pained to hear the moans of the wounded and dying deer, as the panther screamed and then suddenly sprang upon his prey, burying his claws in the sides of the deer, and his tusks in the neck, tearing the flesh from the body. He knew it would be very unsafe for him to attack the panther, as he was but partially gorged with blood, and he therefore chose the better part of valor and hurried on his way ; but he was suddenly startled by a noise behind him which ap- peared like the sudden springs of a panther. Remember- ing that he had a few pounds of fresh venison which he was carrying to a sick friend, and knowing the danger of an encounter with such an animal, he picked up a heavy bludgeon of wood and quickened his steps until he came to the "mammoth log ;" then hastily cutting
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his venison into three parts, he threw one piece just into the mouth of the log, and the balance at a short distance from each side of it. He had hardly taken a position to await his approach, before he saw the bloody panther within a few feet of him. It was now night, but luckily the moon rolled forth from behind a dark cloud as he saw the animal nearing the huge opening which he endeavored to enter, for he had scented the fresh meat. The old man suddenly sprang to his feet and dealt the animal a heavy blow on the back, which rendered him partially powerless. The panther drew back, uttering a horrible groan, which was followed by several screams ; these were, however, soon silenced by a few more well-directed blows.
His hide was hurriedly stripped from his body, and the dauntless pioneer retraced his steps, arriving home near midnight.
The next day a grand hunt was proposed and entered into, which resulted in the death of three panthers, five wolves, and six bears. Three of the wolves, however, were not taken until the morning of the second day, when they were holed near Chenango Forks, and hastily despatched.
Three persons started out in March of 1799 in pursuit of bears, which had committed unwarrantable depreda- tions in the town of Scott. One of them soon gave out and returned, but the other two continued the pursuit, the trail leading in the direction of Skaneateles lake ; but the snow being very deep, they, too, finally gave up, and concluded to return home by a circuitous route, in the hope of meeting with an old bear which had wintered within a mile or so of their home. As they
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