Chenango Union, Norwich, NY, July 31, 1873
Marriages
Chase - Quail: In Lebanon [Madison Co. NY], July 4th, by Rev. E.D. Reed, Mr. John Chase, of Earlville [Madison Co. NY], to Miss Sara Quail, of Lebanon.
HURLBERT - BROWNE: In Sioux City, Ia., May 15th, by Rev. T.J. Kinkard, Mr. George W. Hurlburt of Sioux City, formerly of Oxford [Chenango Co. NY] to Miss Delia B. Browne of Chicago, Ill.
Deaths
On the 12th inst., C.W. Olendorf, Esq., of this village, received a telegram announcing that his brother Alfred [Olendorf] was dangerously ill at Hunt's Half-Way House, between Dunkirk and Fredonia [Chautauqua Co. NY]. Taking the first train, he arrived a few hours after the death of his brother, and took charge of the remains, which were on Monday conveyed to Forestville [Chautauqua Co. NY], and laid beside those of his wife and child. The deceased was for a number of years employed upon the Erie Railroad, in various capacities, and was favorably known to the traveling public, as a faithful official, and a genial companion. His age was 42 years.
John Winton, one of the oldest inhabitants of this town [Morris, Otsego Co. NY], died on Monday, July 21st, at the advanced age of 91 years, 2 months and 2 days. Mr. Winton came to this town with his parents about the time he was fourteen years old and settled some three miles below the village on the east side of the Butternut Creek and has resided in the town ever since. For the last few years, he has lived with his son, John L. Winton, in this village. Sixty years ago, Mr. Winton carried the mails on horseback, starting from this town on Sunday nights for Cooperstown, thence to Richfield Springs, to Utica, to Norwich, to Oxford to Unadilla, thence home to Morris, occupying the entire week in carrying the mails to all these places and the post offices between them. Doubtless there are many aged people along the routes he used to travel, who will remember Mr. Winton, when on horseback he entered the villages blowing his tin horn notifying the country within the sound of his horn, that the weekly mail had arrived. He continued this service for about twelve years, and then settled down to a farmer's life. What changes have there been wrought during the life of this man. He always enjoyed the confidence and respect of his fellow men. For the last six years he was a great sufferer in mind and body. Thus, one after another, our fathers are passing over to the other side. Morris Chronicle.
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The New York Tribune, of the 22d, recounts the doings of a great forger, a native of Chenango County [NY], who died on Monday in New York. Some of our readers may remember the man:
"There died yesterday, at Fort Washington, a man who six-and-thirty years ago was notorious throughout the land as the one man whose forgeries, up to that period, had never in the history of crime been surpassed in magnitude of amount or skill of conception and execution. Even Fauntleroy's were, as compared with his, the merest trifles. They rose to millions, and for several years were carried on with a celerity, precision and success that was amazing; nor in that particular specialty of crime has any successor reached the aggregate of enormity attained by him.
"Benjamin Rathbun, in early life, removed from Chenango County to Buffalo. He became proprietor of the Eagle Tavern, and by cleanliness, order and discipline made it famous among the hotels of the country. Extending his business, he became interested in lines of stages between Buffalo and Albany, and started the noted "Telegraph Line, for six passengers only," which was run at a speed higher than had been previously attained by a coach in the United States and made for it a name among travelers from the West. But hotel-keeping and staging failed to satisfy his ambition. He embarked in speculation. Lots without number at prices without limit were bought, and dwellings, stores and warehouses were erected. For the first time in the history of the State, a fever of speculation broke out which for universality and wildness has never been approached by any other city in the Union. Rathbun was in everything; nothing daunted him; his example was so infectious that the gravest and most timorous money grubbers were drawn into the vortex and in a night made fabulous fortunes - on paper.
"The plan of his forgeries was as ingenious as it was original. To certain parties he would propose to buy certain property or build certain structures. To raise the necessary funds with which to initiate the enterprise, he would make his note for five thousand dollars, payable in New York city at three or six months, and ask the party whose interests were to be promoted to endorse the same. The endorsement obtained, he would report to his counting room and make from ten to fifty notes of the same date and amount, payable at the same time and place, and his clerk, an expert penman, would forge the endorsement. To such a magnitude had these transactions grown, that a regular office was maintained in this city for the purpose of negotiating the paper, the manager being his nephew. During the few years that the fraud was kept up the amount negotiated reached millions of dollars. At length one of the five-thousand-dollar notes, bearing the forged endorsement of the late David E. Evans, then agent of the Holland Land Company at Batavia, was protested and notice sent to him. Mr. Evans paid that note, but on examining the back found to his dismay that his signature had been forged. True, he had endorsed a note of that date, and for precisely that amount, but it was not this. Investigation followed, the plot was discovered, and the whole iniquity exposed to light. Rathbun was arrested, tried at Batavia, convicted, sentenced to five years in State prison, and served out his time. Subsequently he came to this city and opened a hotel in Broadway near Cortlandt Street but was not very successful. Afterwards he kept for some years the small hotel at the corner of Broadway and Forty-third street. Of all the millions that had passed through his hands, he never put away a dollar for himself, nor could he at any time have called himself the honest possessor of fifty thousand dollars.
"The private life of this remarkable man was from his early manhood singularly irreproachable. He was modest to a fault. strictly temperate, never smoked or chewed, never gambled, kept no equipage, had no acquaintance with disreputable people, avoided public places, indulged in no extravagances, but devoted himself assiduously to his business. He had few acquaintances, fewer friends, no companions. To the past he never alluded. He realized to the full the result of his acts and meekly accepted the situation. Silently, patiently, uncomplainingly he plodded on his weary, cheerless way, until finally at the ripe old age of 82, himself and his crimes almost forgotten, he gently fades away.
"It would seem idle to recall these incidents of a felony committed before most of our readers were born, if it were not to point a moral as old as society; that the madness which springs from a greed of sudden gain leads naturally to crime, and that it is rarely given to the acutest of human intellects to commit crime and escape."
Chenango American, Greene, NY, July 31, 1873
Marriage
At the M.E. Parsonage, North Fenton [Broome Co. NY], July 2d, by Rev. T. Burgess, Mr. Riley L. Pratt to Miss Rhoda Paddleford, both of Fenton.
Deaths
In this town [Greene, Chenango Co. NY], July 16th, Mr. Charles Hollenbeck, aged 60 years.
In New York City, July 29th, Mr. W.S. Anner, aged about 57 years, formerly of this village [Greene, Chenango Co. NY].
Sherburne News, Sherburne, NY, August 2, 1873
Marriage
We acknowledge the receipt of some of the cake from the Wooden Wedding of Mr. and Mrs. W.F. Russell of N. Norwich. Mrs. R. was formerly Miss Judith A Flower. We are glad to learn that her many friends were profuse in their presents on the occasion - among which was an elegant center table, rocking chairs, etc. Such events show the estimation in which the parties are held.
Bainbridge Republican, Bainbridge, NY, August 2, 1873
Deaths
Elakim R. Ford, an aged and respected citizen of Oneonta [Otsego Co. NY], and one of the firmest friends of the Albany and Susquehanna Railroad died at his residence in Oneonta on the 22d of July. His funeral was largely attended, and the ceremony impressive.
Gordon Knowlton for many years a resident of Harpursville [Broome Co. NY], died on Saturday, the 19th ult., at his residence in the town of Windsor [Broome Co. NY], of erysipelas, induced by being overheated at his work. He was sick only three days. He was a good neighbor, a quiet, peaceable citizen and for many years, a member of the Baptist Church.
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