History: Malone (part 4 of 4); Franklin co., New York

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Source of file: HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF FRANKLIN COUNTY WITH MANY SHORT
BIOGRAPHIES BY FREDERICK J. SEAVER MALONE, NEW YORK ALBANY: J. B. LYON
COMPANY, PRINTERS 1918

CHAPTER XVIII MALONE (part 4 of 4)

  Though the records of conveyances in the county clerk's office, show only
two or three Irish names among the grantees in Malone earlier than 1830, John
Talbot Smith's History of the Diocese of Ogdensburg is authority for the
statement that a few immigrants of that nationality were here in 1820. With
very few exceptions arrivals of French were later still. The nearest Catholic
church until after 1830 was at St. Regis, 26 or 28 miles distant, and it was
not unusual for the more devout of Malone's residents who professed the Roman
Catholic faith to walk to St. Regis and later to Hogansburgh to celebrate the
festivals of Christmas and Easter. Then Father Moore of Huntingdon, Que.,
began coming here at infrequent intervals to say mass, and upon one occasion
Father Rafferty of Plattsburgh preached at the court house. Mr. Smith fixes
the time of these first services as in June, 1831, and the place at John
McFarlane's home, which was near the poor house. In 1836 Malone was attached
to the Hogansburgh parish, and continued a part of it until 1S49, when it was
made an independent charge. During these thirteen years Father John McNulty
and Father James Keveney, rectors at Hogansburgh, and possibly now and then
some other priest who chanced to journey through this section, held occasional
services in Malone. In 1836 Father McNulty bought a lot fronting on Main
street, just west of Rockland, for a church, parsonage and cemetery, and it is
remembered that graves were many in front and at each side of the old church
building which stood at that point from 1837 until about 1862 or 1863. This
building was an unpretentious frame structure with a capacity of perhaps a
hundred and fifty worshipers. It was enlarged by Father McCabe, probably about
1850 or 1851, by adding a transept, and was unusual in appearance because of a
roofless veranda or platform that reached entirely across the front and along
the east side of both the main edifice and the transept. A new church was
begun by Father Anthony Theves in 1862 nearly on the site of the present
edifice, but though the church had increased largely in numbers from the
beginning of Father McCabe's rectorship, the members were yet generally of
quite limited means, and the new building project was so ambitious in design
and proportions that the work had to be arrested or a priest peculiarly
adapted to its prosecution found to carry it through. Father Theves was
accordingly transferred to another charge, and Father Francis Edward Van
Compenholdt, known as "the church builder" because of his achievements in this
line in other parishes, was assigned here. He was a Belgian, and probably
because his surname was formidable to the English tongue, was always known
locally as Father Francis. The work went forward energetically for a time,
under Father James J. Sherry after the departure of Father Francis, but with
burdensome debt piling up, until fire broke out in the building soon after the
close of services on Sunday, September 4, 1870, and the edifice was wholly
destroyed. The insurance was hardly more than enough to cover the debt, so
that the church had practically to start rebuilding almost as a new
undertaking, the fire having wiped out the savings of years. Nevertheless 
courage and self-denial were equal to the emergency, and in the course of a 
little more than a year the exterior of a new building had been almost
finished, when a high wind tore off the roof and tumbled two of the walls into
ruins, causing damage to the amount of $10,000. Still undaunted, the society
again undertook to build, and within a short time the work had so progressed
that services could be held in the basement. But when Father Rossiter became
rector he set his face inflexibly against the contracting of further debt, and
thus it was not until 1882 that the building had advanced far enough toward
completion to be deemed ready for dedication. In the course of a few years the
debt was reduced by $25,000, and in 1905 the building was renovated and
redecorated at a cost of several thousand dollars. In 1917 an organ was added
at a cost of $3,500.

  The first record of the church in the county clerk's office is the deed of
the lot bought by Father McNulty, and the second (as of date July 20, 1839) a 
certificate that at a meeting held that day, at which Francis White and Neal 
McCaffrey presided, Barney Mallon, Michael Cowan and William Dorsey were
elected trustees. The church was then without a distinguishing name, but the
proceedings of a similar meeting held April 13, 1840, show that Barney
McGivney was warden, and that the society had been named St. Joseph Church of
Malone. In 1848 the name appears in the record as the Roman Catholic Church of
St. Joseph's at Malone.

  Father Bernard E. McCabe, the first settled rector, met a tragic death 
November 24, 1857. The rectory was discovered to be on fire, and those who 
responded first to the alarm found the body of the priest on the floor of his 
bedroom so charred as hardly to be recognizable as that of a human being. The 
conjecture was that while reading in bed he had dropped asleep, and that the 
candle had set fire to the bedding. The fire did not extend to any other part
of the house. There are no records of the church extant of date earlier than
1858. and it may be that the history of the parish for the first nine years of
its life was destroyed by this fire.

  Father William Rossiter became rector in 1877, having been preceded for a
few months by Father Patrick Ludden, who became vicar general of the diocese
of Albany and then the first bishop of the diocese of Syracuse. Father
Rossiter continued as rector until his death in 1908. Besides his priestly
character, which commanded, admiration and high respect, he had an engaging
personality and was efficient as an executive. It was due largely to his
management that the church debt was greatly reduced, and the fine church
building completed, and in later years improved and beautified.

  Since 1849 the parishes of St. Mary's in Malone, Bangor, West Bangor, 
Brushton, Constable, Trout River, Chasm Falls, Burke and Chateaugay have been 
carved directly or indirectly from St. Joseph's, and still the church embraces 
to-day about 325 families, or probably 1,300 or 1,400 souls, and was never 
stronger or more prosperous. It still carries a debt of about $8,000. Father 
John H. O'Rourke, a ripe scholar of superior intellectual endowment and wide 
information, has been rector since 1908, and enjoys in remarkable measure the 
affection of his people and the kind and appreciative regard of the community 
generally.

  The original church building was removed about 1862 or 1863 to face Rockland 
street, then only a lane, and a parochial school was opened in it by a Mr. 
Maguire, who is said to have been a fine scholar, but with many oddities, and 
not prepossessing in appearance. He was familiarly known as "Andy the
Fiddler."

  At about this time Father Francis bought the large stone building at the 
corner of Main and Fort Covington streets for a rectory, and it was occupied
as such both by himself and by Father Sherry. About 1873, however, it was
given over to the Sisters of Mercy for a convent school, but for lack of
financial support the enterprise had to be abandoned within a short time, when
the Sisters removed to Hogansburgh, where they entered upon a similar
undertaking, which they have made a great success.

  In 1863 the grounds for the Fort Covington street cemetery were purchased by 
Father Francis.

  There was occasional Universalist preaching in Malone as early as 1823 or 
1824, and there is some reason for believing that a sort of organization of
that denomination was formed here in 1835, though no society was actually 
incorporated until May 12, 1846. At this latter date a lot just west of the 
present Methodist Episcopal church was purchased and a church building erected 
upon it. The name was "The First Universalist Society of Malone, Franklin 
County, New York." The society was never large, and was frequently without a 
pastor for long periods. In 1884 the membership had become so small that 
services ceased to be held, and were never resumed. In 1892 the society was 
dissolved, and in 1894 its property was sold, with donation of the proceeds to 
St. Lawrence University. The building is now in part a store and in part a 
dwelling house.

  Methodist Episcopal services were held in South Malone, now known as Chasm 
Falls, at least as early as 1835 by Rev. C. L. Dunning, pastor at Malone, and
in 1843 Rev. Almanzo Blackman, also located in Malone, formed a class there
with Sherman Stancliff as leader. Rev. Norman L. Knights, a local preacher
whose home was in the vicinity, also officiated more or less often in these
early years, and possibly others not now known,  the services having been held
usually in a building south of the Daniel Averill (now Dr. Harwood) place,
which was erected for the double use of a school and house of worship, and was
known as "The Temple." But no permanent or formal organization was effected
until 1849, when Rev. Alonzo "Wells supplied appointments and performed
pastoral work at both Chasm Falls and Duane, and the next year the two were
consolidated under the name of Duane mission, attached to the Chateaugay
circuit for two years, and then united with Dickinson. From that time to the
present the charge has been supplied almost continuously   at first by
clergymen stationed at vicinity places, and since 1867 by pastors duly
assigned and residing in the district. A log chapel eventually took the place
of "The Temple," and in 1867 the latter was displaced by the present brick
church. In January, 1861, "The First Methodist Episcopal Church of the Town of
Duane and Township Number Nine of the Town of Malone" was incorporated. The
charge now includes not only Chasm Falls and Duane, but also Owl's Head, at
which latter place a church building was erected in 1898, and the combined
membership at the three places considerably exceeds two hundred.

  In the old days every country church was open as a matter of course for 
political meetings, and the writer was sent in 1872 with the late Hon. John I. 
Gilbert to speak at Chasm Falls. The church was crowded, and good old Sherman 
Stancliff   sincere and earnest in everything   served as chairman. Mr. 
Stancliff's belief in Republicanism and devotion to it was as strong and
ardent as in his church, and it was therefore the most natural thing, and to
him altogether appropriate, to dismiss the meeting by calling upon the
audience to rise and all join in singing the Doxology!

  The Irish and French Roman Catholics of Malone worshiped as one people at
the same altar and under a single priest until the latter part of 1868, though
not with the most cordial fraternization. Indeed, the two nationalities, never 
mingle in real amity anywhere, and here there were special underlying facts
and conditions to induce more than the usual segregation and friction, for the
Irish had built the church originally and had contributed far the larger part
to its support, so that they regarded the French as more or less intruders,
while the French (of whom then a much smaller percentage understood and spoke
English than now) were not greatly attracted to the services, and came to feel
that they were not welcome in the sanctuary. Of the five or six hundred
families of French extraction residing in Malone fifty or sixty years ago not
more than thirty or forty made even a pretence of attending church. It was in
such conditions that Father John B. LeGrand came to Malone from Keeseville in
the autumn of 1868, and, as he entered it himself on the record, founded the
French Roman Catholic Church of Malone, thereby beginning a work of utmost
value and beneficence, on the 29th day of November, 1868. His first place of
residence was the brick dwelling house adjoining the old Arsenal Green school
house, and in it he fitted up a small chapel, where and at St. Joseph's for
the ensuing few months he said mass and held confession. In March, 1869, the
old Albert Andrus homestead was purchased, and as soon as spring opened work
was begun for the erection of a church that the French should have for their
very own. A tentative organization, known as the French Roman Catholic Church
of Malone, was first formed, and legal incorporation was had May 21, 1869, as
"St. Mary's Church of Malone, New York," but commonly called Notre Dame, with
the bishop, the vicar general, Father LeGrand, Edward Cherrier and Joseph
Menard as trustees. On June 13th the corner stone was laid, with Rt. Rev.
Edgar P. Wadhams, then vicar general of the diocese of Albany, and afterward
bishop of the diocese of Ogdensburg, officiating. A rough floor laid on the
foundations gave seating accommodations to the large assemblage that gathered
for the ceremony. A procession, forming at St. Joseph's church, marched to the
site of what was to become the Church of Our Lady, and so many were the
participants that when the head of the line reached Arsenal Green the foot had
not moved from St. Joseph's. The energy with which the work of building was
prosecuted is indicated by the fact that two months later, on August 15th,
service was held in the edifice, though it was of course far from finished and
almost barn-like. Poor as the people were, they yet gave $3,000 for the work
between August and Christmas, and $4,378 the next year, with generous
contributions continued annually ever since. From the mere handful of the
French who had formerly attended the services at St. Joseph's so great an 
interest was awakened that the new church came to be well filled almost every 
Sabbath, and though parishes at Constable and Chasm Falls were erected from
St. Mary's in 1874 and 1877, respectively, St. Mary's to-day includes 1,002 
families, numbering 4,428 souls, celebrates an average of sixty or seventy 
marriages per year, has seventy-five deaths and performs two hundred baptisms. 
The church building has been finished and beautified, a bell and a fine organ 
furnished, the Andrus dwelling house has been replaced by a commodious and 
modern rectory, and extensive grounds purchased for a cemetery. The church 
property has an estimated value of $60.000, and the debt of the organization
is only $5,000 or $6,000. The parish includes all of the town of Malone except
the section "known as Chasm Falls and parts of the towns of Bellniont and
Westville, with perhaps a few scattering families in the edge of Constable.

  In 1873 a parochial school was opened in a building on Main street, opposite 
the Congregational church, but was continued for only a short time. Again, in 
1891 or 1882, St. Mary's erected a fine building facing the Arsenal Green
north of the railroad, with co-operation by the Sisters of Mercy, and
maintained a school in it for two or three years, but the expense was more
than the society could bear, and it was abandoned in 1894. A year later the
village school district bought the property, and uses it for the public
schools.

  While undoubtedly no small part of all this accomplishment has been wrought, 
as it certainly has been preserved, through the ministration and management of 
Father Edward Blanchard, rector for the past thirty-five years until 1918, to 
Father LeGrand belongs the unquestioned credit of having instituted the work
and forwarded it when the field seemed barren and the difficulties
insurmountable. At the time when Father LeGrand began his labors in Malone
conditions among the French could hardly have been worse. True, there were a
few among them who were thrifty, intelligent and of good character, but a
great many were improvident, ignorant, addicted to drink, unemployed by
choice, not amenable to religious precept, brawling and vicious. Those of this
latter type who were industrious at all were content to accept menial tasks,
and apparently aspired to nothing better. Their children did not attend
school, and illiteracy was the rule among them. Not many owned their homes,
the prevalent standard of living, including furnishings, surroundings, food
and raiment, was low; and pride, ambition, moral conception and Sabbath
observance seemed unknown to them. To the teachings, dominating character and
influence and the tireless efforts of Father LeGrand is traceable very largely
the marvelous change that fifteen years witnessed, and which is still in
process. Father LeGrand had the misfortune to incur the enmity of some of his
people toward the close of his pastorate, but whatever the merits back of this
contention may have been, I believe the fact to stand unchallengeable
nevertheless that no clergyman of any denomination, with the possible
exception of Doctor Parmelee, ever accomplished more real good (perhaps 
none as much) in Malone as Father LeGrand. He deserves the lasting gratitude
not merely of his own people, but of the citizenry at large. He died at Glens
Falls May 18, 1891, after having been a priest for forty-four years.

  Father Edward Blanchard was rector of St. Mary's from January, 1884, to 
December, 1917. More sociable and more tactful than Father LeGrand, but not
less an earnest worker, all of the betterment won under the latter has not
only been held secure, but augmented. It is widely regretted that his health
compelled him to tender his resignation, to become effective with the close of
the year 1917. However, he is to continue to make Malone his home, and expects
to join in 1918 in celebrating both the semi-centennial of his own ordination
and of the founding of the church for which he has done so much. Rev. T.
Campeau is his successor.

  St. Helen's Church of Chasm Falls was founded by Father LeGrand in 1877, and 
its house of worship was built and paid for with funds which he persuaded 
friends in France to contribute. The first trustees were Joseph Boyea and
David Boivin, and for four years Father LeGrand himself officiated as rector.
There are 103 families in the parish, and for nearly all of the time since
1881 the church has had a resident rector.

  There had been here and there in Malone for a long time a few disciples of 
Mrs. Eddy, but without any society or united association until perhaps ten or 
twelve years ago. They then banded together informally, and in June, 1913, 
incorporated legally as the "First Church of Christ, Scientist, Malone, New 
York," with Caroline J. Phillips, Sadie W. Lawrence, Williamine S. Childs,
Helen M. Gurley and Fred F. Fisk as trustees. The organization's membership
numbers fifteen or twenty, and occupies the old Arsenal Green school house
under lease for a place of meeting. The attendance at the service is
ordinarily between forty and fifty. Miss Clara M. Russell has established
herself in town as a Christian Science practitioner.

  Protracted revivals have been numerous. Besides those of comparatively
recent years, conducted by B. Fay Mills a generation ago, and by M. R. Rees in
1905 and in 1915-16   the latter continuing through five weeks, with the
services held in a building erected expressly for them, and of capacity
greater than that of any of the churches, and adding 250 or 300 to the
membership of the Baptist, Congregational and Methodist Episcopal churches  
there have been three which call for particular mention. The first, conducted
by Doctor Parmelee without outside assistance, was in 1816, following a period
which Rev. C. S. Richardson, pastor of the Congregational church, described in
1876 as having immediately succeeded three years during which "profaneness in
vilest form was common in our streets, on the Sabbath as well as other days.
Gambling and bacchanalian revel were common as never before witnessed here.
Money was at one time in abundance, but by whatever means obtained, whether by
honest toil or frauds or pilfering, it was often hastily wasted at the gaming
table or in scenes of intemperance." But, still following Mr. Richardson's
narrative, "the very beginning of the year 1816 was signalized by extreme
thoughtfulness on the part of all classes. Religious topics became the staple
of conversation. On the highway the pastor was accustomed to be met with an
earnest inquiry by an apparent stranger upon some one of the fundamental
doctrines. * * * This was not a period of fanaticism   not a blaze of
religious fervor and then a heap of mouldering embers, but the fire was
kindled on the heart's altar and burned with a clear, steady glow. * * * The
revival left its seal on the following years. Indeed, the church has not yet
outgrown the spiritual power of that single season. One hundred, "between May
and September of that year, joined this body."

  The next notable religious movement of like character came in 1836, and was 
under Methodist Episcopal direction, though the Congregationalists always
shared in the evening services. Rev. Charles L. Dunning was the Methodist
pastor here, and Rev. James Erwin was in charge of the Chateaugay circuit. The
latter's boyhood had been passed at Fort Covington, he had preached a number
of times at camp meetings in Malone, and he was persuaded to come here in the
winter of 1836 and work with Mr. Dunning. The services were held in the court
house, the judge's desk serving as pulpit, a bench, back of it for seating the 
participating clergy, and the inclosure in front which is usually occupied in 
court time by attorneys, witnesses and litigants for the men and women who led 
in prayer and were active helpers in the work, and also as a "mourner's
bench." As a general thing meetings were held three times a day   those in the
morning "for the benefit of the church, the establishing of converts, and for 
instructing penitents in the way of faith;" those in the afternoon for 
preaching, followed by prayer, and continuing sometimes until the evening 
service, which was on many accounts the most important of the day, as many, 
otherwise engaged mornings and afternoons, could then be present. In the
evening there was always a sermon, usually addressed to the unconverted,
followed by a rousing exhortation, and then "by one, two or three hours spent
in united, earnest prayer, singing and giving instruction to the penitents. *
* * Great crowds attended the meetings from all the country around. They came
from Bangor, Constable, Burke, Bellmont, and from 'up south.' * * * Some
revivals bring in young people mainly; others an older class. But this took
old and young, rich and poor, learned and unlearned. It was one of God's great
'flood tides'." The work continued without abatement for six weeks, the crowds
increasing until the breaking up of the roads in the spring interrupted
travel. "The Sabbath crowds were immense. People came from great distances,
bringing refreshments with them, and spent the entire day, from the nine
o'clock lovefeast to the close of the service," which was never until nearly
midnight. "Sunday was the great seed sowing day, and on Monday we gathered the
harvest," the conversions always being most numerous on that day. Mr. Erwin
preached more than sixty sermons during the six weeks, and at the conclusion
of his final effort fell in the pulpit, and could do no more preaching for
three years, but was eventually so restored to health and strength that he
continued active in the ministry for a third of a century and more.

  Another remarkable revival was in the spring of 1840, a Congregational 
activity, with Rev. Jedediah Burchard the principal worker. Mr. Burchard was
an evangelist of considerable repute and an enthusiastic and eloquent
preacher, who exercised much control over his audiences, and caused a great
deal of excitement and religious fervor. One stipulation in the arrangements
which brought him to Malone required that he be supplied daily with fresh beef
  which had to be brought by stage from Plattsburgh. A resident of that time,
who gave some of his recollections to the press at a much later date,
irreverently .called Mr. Burchard's meetings a "howling success": and added
that the evangelist had formerly been a circus rider, and that in transports
of exhortation he would leap from the pulpit and do acrobatic stunts in front
of it, which is the more believable because Sanford's history of the town of
Hopkinton, where Mr. Burchard went from Malone, states that "he would walk
about among the people in the audience on the tops of the backs of the square
pews, loudly and eloquently exhorting them to give up their wicked ways, and
thus save themselves from eternal hell fire." In one sermon he described a
great seething, roaring blast furnace which melted ore to a white heat, and
declared that, inconceivably hot as the furnace was, hell was so much hotter
that if one of its inmates could be transferred to the furnace he would freeze
to death in five minutes! Mr. Burchard died at Adams, Jefferson county, in
1864. There is no authentic information available in regard to the permanency
of Mr. Burchard's work in Malone other than that he sowed seeds of dissension
between Doctor Parmelee and his people, which weakened the influence of the
pastor, and which, after the evangelist's departure, nearly divided the
church. As his son said in a biography of Doctor Parmelee, Mr. Burchard's
"peculiar  way of preaching, conducting meetings and telling ludicrous
anecdotes were quite distasteful," and doubtless this disapproval rankled with
those who were enamored of the evangelist, so that friction and animosities
were created   resulting after a few years in the pastor's resignation.
Cordial relations were restored later, however.

  Northern Constellation Lodge, No. 148, F. and A. M., to be located at any 
convenient place within the towns of Chateaugay or Harison, was authorized 
December 3, 1806, and continued in existence for nearly thirty years; but 
becoming inactive during the Morgan excitement because of the withdrawal of
many members and because also of the then popular reprehension of the order,
the continuing members were unable by reason of the scarcity of money to pay
their dues. For this latter condition the charter was forfeited June 7, 1833,
its last previous return to the grand lodge having been in 1827, when it had
63 members. Reorganization was had in 1854 under the original name, but with
the number changed to 291. From this latter date the lodge has been
uninterruptedly active, and now has close to 300 members in good standing. The
first master in 1806 was Albon Man, and the first under the reorganization
Clark Williamson, who in 1834 had preserved the jewels of the lodge by burying
them. The elective officers for 1918 are: E. J. Reed W. M., Grant G. Collins
S. W., J. P. Badger J. W., T. T. Buttrick secretary, and S. M. Howard
treasurer.

  Northern Constellation Chapter, No. 28, R. A. M., was chartered February 7, 
1810, and, unlike the lodge, has maintained a continuous existence, though it 
was not active during anti-Masonic times, nor until some twenty years later.
No record is available of the number of its charter members. Its first
officers were: Albon Man high priest, Samuel Peck king, and Samuel Pease
scribe. Upon the revival of the organization in 1853 Josiah F. Saunders was
high priest, Philip B. Miller king, and F. P. Allen scribe. There are at
present 218 members, and the elective officers for 1918 are: Grant G. Collins
high priest, C. L. Lowell king, E. J. Reed scribe, C. W. Russell secretary,
and N. M. Marshall treasurer.

  Franklin Commandery, No. 60, Knights Templar, was instituted January 8,
1885, but had been in existence by a dispensation from April 28, 1884. There
were something like 20 or 25 charter members, and the officers at institution
were: W. H. Gray eminent commander, G. W. Dustin generalissimo, D. H. Stanton
captain general, Rev. W. G. W. Lewis prelate. S. A. Beman S. W., R. C.
Wentworth J. W., W. R. Flanagan treasurer, T. Alfred Quaile recorder, L. C.
Shepard standard bearer, H. H. Hickok sword hearer, S. C. Paddock warder, G.
H. Kidney captain of the guard, J. A. Hogle, N. W. Porter and E. W. Lawrence
guards. The present officers are: Ernest S. Mason eminent commander, Herbert
H. Seaver generalissimo, Roy N. Porter captain general, Rev. J. B. Webster
prelate, Grant G. Collins S. W., Geo. W. Calkins J. W., A. W. Gamble
treasurer, E. McC. Miller recorder, Geo. H. Houston standard bearer, Carroll
T. Douglass sword bearer, Chas. L. Lowell warder, and P. H. Tummons, G. C.
Dewey and John S. Keeler guards. The present membership is 254.

  At one period the lodge was moved to Fort Covington for a time because 
exorbitant rental was demanded for a hall in Malone. Otherwise its situs has 
always been in Malone, and for more than twenty years it and the chapter 
occupied rooms over the Dewey & Smith and Buttrick stores, and then for nearly 
thirty years in Centennial Block. In 1904 the Masonic Temple Association was 
organized, with the lodge, the chapter and the commandery each equally 
represented in the board of trustees, and purchased and fitted up the Dr. 
Skinner place for a temple, in which each organization has accommodations. In 
1907 a fair for the benefit of the order netted funds to the amount of $6,700.

  Neshoba Lodge, No. 351, I. 0. 0. F. (renumbered 78), organized March 15,
1848, under a dispensation by the grand lodge granted upon the application of
a group of well known citizens (including Dr. Bates, Dr. Skinner and F. T.
Heath) who had visited Potsdam a short time previously for initiation in the
order. The first lodge room was in the old so-called Harison Academy, and now
spacious quarters are occupied in Howard Block. At least twice the lodge room
was destroyed by fire. The first officers were: Sidney P. Bates N. G., S. C.
F. Thorndike V. G., Henry S. Brewster secretary, and U. D. Meeker treasurer.
The order found favor from the first on the part of leading citizens, and grew 
rapidly in numbers. The present membership is 135, and the officers for 1918 
are: James Flynn N. G., George Carr V. G., Charles Whipple secretary, A. L.
Paro treasurer, and Charles Whipple, Frank G. Roby and L. M. Kellas trustees.
John P. Kellas was grandmaster of the grand lodge in 1901 and 1902.

  J. C. Drake, D. S. Camp, J. E. Beardsley, Horatio Peck, Wesley Jones, C. B. 
Beardsley and M. S. Mallon were authorized by the State organization January
15, 1885, to hold an encampment in Malone to be known as Neshoba Encampment
No. 30, I. 0. 0. F. The records were lost some years ago by fire, and the
number of charter members and the first officers are unknown. The organization
now has 26 members, and its officers are: Isadore Thanhauser chief patriarch,
Clarence S. Mason S. W., Eldon Newcomb high priest, Haydn Nimblett J. W., Geo.
H. Nickelson secretary, and Geo. W. Rowe treasurer.

  Of the many helpful services rendered by Father LeGrand in Malone few rank 
higher than his organization of the St. John Baptist Society October 9, 1872. 
The society is not a branch or subordinate chapter of any general order, but
is independent and purely local. It is both fraternal and benevolent.
Membership is permitted only to those of French extraction who are Catholics,
and in good health. It pays benefits of from $3 to $5 per week in cases of
sickness, contributes to the funeral expenses of those who die, and assesses
each member one dollar for a fund to be paid to the estate of any deceased
brother. The charter members numbered 40, and the present number is close to
400. Starting with nothing, the society some years later purchased a building
on Mill street in which it fitted up a hall for meetings, and has recently
bought the fine home of the late Mrs. S. A. Beman for lodge uses and a club
home. It has no debt, and has funds in its treasury. The original trustees
were Edward Cherrier, Moise Viau, Joseph Menard, Moise Gibeault, Samuel
Aubrey, and Thomas Deparois. The officers are: Rev. Edward Blanchard chaplain,
David Dubois president, Antoine Dubois vice-president, Napoleon Dufore
secretary, J. B. Marceau corresponding secretary, F. X. Delisle financial
secretary, Henry W. Labarge assistant financial secretary, and Alex. Dumas
orderly. An auxiliary organization, consisting of about 40 members equipped
with uniforms, is without distinctive functions except to appear in
processions. Its officers are: F. X. Rozon commander, Henry Champagne first
lieutenant, Albert Gibbo quartermaster, Samuel Benoit corporal, and John B.
Marceau secretary. There are also about 50 St. John Baptist Cadets, composed
of the sons of members, who are in training to unite at the proper age with
the main society.

  Council LeGrand is a subordinate organization of the St. John Baptist Union, 
which is national in its scope, and was chartered July 15. 1910, with 16
members. The order is of a fraternal and insurance character, with low premium 
rates, and pays both sick benefits and death claims. The first officers were: 
Joseph Brunet president, C. L. Pinsonneault vice-president, H. E. Pinsonneault 
secretary, and M. H. Burno treasurer. There are now 200 members, and the
present officers are: Ralph J. Cardinal president, Edward Dumas
vice-president, J. I. Carmel secretary, and George Gratton treasurer.

  Brennan Post No. 284, G. A. R., was organized August 12, 1882, with 23
charter members, and it has had in all 350 names on its muster rolls. Its
first officers were: Daniel H. Stanton commander. H. B. Meigs senior vice
commander, S. S. Willard junior vice commander, H. D. Hickok adjutant, E. J.
Mannix quartermaster, Ralph Erwin surgeon, R. McC. Miller 0. D., John McSorley
0. G., C. R. Doty sergeant major, and G. D. Hastings quartermaster sergeant.
Deaths and removals have reduced the roster to 23 names. The officers for 1918
are: Thomas Denio commander, Luke Tebo senior vice commander, Peter Roberts
junior vice commander, Henry Fobere surgeon, John Curtis chaplain, L. P.
Chandler quartermaster and adjutant, Theodore Robinson 0. D., and Charles
Dumas 0. G.

  J. W. Pangburn Post No. 312, G. A. R., was organized July 28, 1895, with 14 
charter members, who were mostly withdrawals from Brennan Post. The first 
officers were: Orville Moore commander, Hiram T. French senior vice commander, 
G. P. Norris junior vice commander, A. C. Hadley surgeon, M. N. Dawson 0. D.,
H. D. Hickok quartermaster, H. J. Merriam chaplain, H. H. Davis 0. G., and B.
H. Spencer sentinel. There are at present 10 members, and the officers for
1918 are R. McC. Miller commander, H. J. Merriam senior vice commander, A. C.
Hadley junior vice commander, L. B. Chase surgeon, H. H. Davis O. D., L. B.
Sperry adjutant, C. H. Totman chaplain and quartermaster, and E. S. Kelsey 0.
G.

  Malone Council No. 308, Knights of Columbus, was chartered February 13,
1898, with fifty members. The first officers were: E. D. Holland grand knight,
James T. Welch deputy grand knight, George F. Cowan recording secretary, M. F. 
McGarrahan treasurer, and Charles A. Burke lecturer. The organization now has 
226 members, and its officers are: J. W. Starks grand knight, James P. Lyng 
deputy grand knight, T. J. McKee financial secretary, and W. H. McKee
treasurer.

  "The Wadhams Reading Circle of Malone, New York", was organized upon the 
advocacy of Mrs. B. Ellen Burke November 11, 1897, for "promotion of religious 
instruction, self culture, the dissemination of good literature and the 
acquisition of power and strength from union." It has held fortnightly
meetings regularly beginning in October and continuing into May, with fixed
topics for study and discussion   both men and women having parts in the
programmes   and has established a free circulating library, which now numbers
3,500 volumes. For several years the village voted it $200 per year for the
purchase of books, etc. There were 19 charter members, and the first officers
were: Father William Rossiter chaplain, Mrs. B. Ellen Burke president, Mrs.
Eliza J. Kelley and Mrs. Jennie V. Holland vice-presidents, Lizzie G. Rennie
secretary and treasurer, and Edward Pierce and James F. Kelley librarians.
There are now something like 80 members, and the present officers are: Rev. J.
H. O'Rourke chaplain, Mrs. P. F. Dalphin president, Mrs. M. J. Crowley and
Mary E. O'Rourke vice-presidents, and Lena Caskin secretary and treasurer.

  Adirondack Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution was formed in 
1899 with ten charter members. The first officers were: Mrs. John W. Fay
regent, Mrs. Joel J. Seaver registrar, Miss Alice Hyde treasurer, and Miss
Florence Channell secretary. The members now number 70, and the present
officers are: Mrs. C. L. Capron regent, Mrs. Anabel S. Huntington vice-regent,
Mrs. W. H. Montross secretary, Mrs. Geo. B. Humphrey treasurer, and Miss
Angelina B. Fullington historian.

  Malone Grange No. 959, Patrons of Husbandry, was organized in 1903, with 35 
charter members, and the number now is 453. It occupies the old King's Hall
for a lodge room, and holds meetings twice monthly, with a programme mapped
out for a year in advance, which is designed to afford both entertainment and 
instruction. Not only matters pertaining to agriculture are discussed, but
also various public problems. Besides providing wholesome entertainment and
promoting neighborliness and sociability, the organization thus makes itself
practically educative to its farmer members. Among the first officers were S.
E. Willett as master, James W. Delong as overseer, Mrs. Delia C. Delong as
lecturer, and Ernest C. Gleason as secretary. The present officers are:
William J. Wheeler master, Floyd P. King overseer, Mrs. Elmer A. Eddy
lecturer, E. A. Eddy steward, Clarence Boyea assistant steward, Mrs. 0. H.
Cook chaplain, Lyman L. Foote secretary, Lawrence E. Westcott treasurer, Guy
W. Whipple gate keeper, Mrs. Henry Badore Flora, Mrs. Guy Whipple Ceres, Mrs.
Geo. Parker Pomona, Mrs. John Wheeler L. A. S., and F. A. Hadley insurance
director.

  The Franklin County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
obtained its charter in February, 1907, and has accomplished great good in the
eleven years of its existence by compelling observance of humane practices in 
particular cases and also through its educative work. Earlier than the
society's organization a few individuals (the late Mrs. S. A. Beman more than
any one else) had operated independently for the cause, but always at a
disadvantage and with a great deal of personal unpleasantness. Now the society
keeps an agent busy all of the time looking up abuses and instituting
prosecutions where such are necessary to establish better care of animals. The
first officers were: Henry Furness president, Rev. J. H. Brown and Rev. E.
Blanchard vice-presidents, Miss Lucia Gilbert secretary, Mrs. L. H. Phillips
assistant secretary, and Miss May Badger treasurer. The present officers are:
George B. Humphrey president, Rev. E. Blanchard and C. H. Moody
vice-presidents, Miss Lucia Gilbert secretary, and Miss Florence Mallon
treasurer.

  Malone Lodge No. 1303, B. P. 0. Elks, was instituted May 29, 1913, with 37 
members, and as the entertainment and large benefits which the order afforded 
became known applications for membership began to pour in largely  
considerable numbers of them from other towns. No other fraternal organization
in Malone ever seized so quickly and so widely upon the popular fancy, and the
result is that, counting those awaiting initiation, there are now five hundred
members. A social club from the beginning, the lodge has become in effect a
center from which a bountiful benevolence to the poor has been dispensed,
where civic duties are considered and wrought out, and where, by the generous
permission of the members, headquarters are found by many organizations that
are engaged in seeking to further Malone's welfare and in doing war work. The
lodge acquired the former residence of Vice-President Wheeler, and has so
enlarged and improved the property that it represents an expenditure of
$60,000, and affords not merely an ample and luxurious home for the lodge, but
also accommodations for social and business purposes that could not be
bettered. The first officers were: F. R. Kirk exalted ruler, George J. Moore
esteemed leading knight, M. J. Slason esteemed loyal knight, Dr. H. D. Mayne
esteemed lecturing knight, W. J. Bulger secretary, Levi A. Pratt treasurer, W.
W. Smith esquire, L. M. Kellas tiler, Rev. H. A. Barrett chaplain, Henry
Gonyaw inner guard, and George W. Crooks, N. M. Marshall and Jay 0. Ballard
trustees. The officers for 1918 are: M. J. Slason exalted ruler, W. W. Smith
esteemed loyal knight, Henry G. Gonyaw esteemed lecturing knight, W. J. Bulger
secretary, Levi A. Pratt treasurer, L. M. Kellas esquire, J. E. Carroll tiler,
A. E. Morrison inner guard, Rev. H. A. Barrett chaplain, and B. R. Clark,
Thomas Cantwell and W. C. Leonard trustees.

THE FARRAR HOME FOR DESERVING OLD LADIES

  Isaac B. Farrar, a retired farmer, bequeathed most of his property in 1900
to Mrs. Clara Kilburn and Mrs. Ella Symonds in trust for the establishment,
support and endowment of a charitable institution to be located at Malone, and
to be styled The Farrar Home for Deserving Old Ladies. A corporation was
formed the same year to take over the trust, which eventually yielded $11,225
  too small a sum to give effect to Mr. Farrar's purpose. But Miss Martha
Meeker bequeathed $1,000 to the institution, auxiliary organizations were
formed to solicit funds and donations of furniture, etc., and a "tag day" in
1909 provided several hundred dollars, so that after nine or ten years the
home owned a house, valued at $4,000, on the corner of Constable and Second
streets, and had investments aggregating about $13,600. The home was opened
January 6, 1910, with five inmates, and its maintenance expenses from that
date have run from about $1,000 to $2,100 a year. The house has been enlarged
and improved in many respects, and now can accommodate sixteen inmates. The
auxiliaries have contributed $12,000 in the past eight or nine years, and a
bequest of $5,000 by Dr. Henry Furness and one of $1,000 by Mrs. Letitia
Greeno have been added to the endowment, which now totals $44,300, with a
considerable bequest by Mrs. Greeno to be realized later. The house is now
valued at $12,500. Every woman admitted is required to assign and transfer to
the trustees all property that she possesses or may acquire   a minimum
payment of $250 being necessary to secure admission. The first directors 
were Mrs. Jeanette R. Hawkins, Mrs. Letitia Greeno, George W. Dustin, G.
Herbert Hale and Aaron C. Allison. Mrs. Hawkins was the first president, Mrs.
Greeno the first vice-president, Mrs. Mary L. King the first secretary, and
Marshall E. Howard the first treasurer. These officers have been continued
uninterruptedly to the present except that Mr. Dustin has succeeded Mrs.
Greeno, deceased, as vice-president. The present directors are: Mrs. Hawkins,
George W. Dustin, Marshall E. Howard, G. Herbert Hale, William L. Allen, Miss
Florence Mallon, Mrs. Clara Kilburn, Mrs. John A. Grant, Mrs. Helen Lillis and
Mrs. Mary L. King.

ALICE HYDE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL

  Necessity for a general hospital had been felt for years, with occasional 
spasmodic agitation in favor of building or renting for the purpose, but
without action because it was regarded as impossible to procure sufficient
funds. In 1904, however, The Malone Hospital Association was incorporated,
with the following directors: John P. Badger, Henry Furness, John I. Gilbert,
William Rossiter, Edward Blanchard, S. A. Beman, Sidney Robinson, Thomas
Cantwell, Marshall E. Howard, Frederick D. Kilburn, Frank S. Channell,
Percival F. Dalphin, Alfred G. Wilding, John A. Flanagan, Joseph W. Brown, Jay
0. Ballard, Charles W. Collins, Charles W. Breed, Aaron C. Allison, Martin E.
McClary and John Kelley. Mr. Badger was president, Dr. Furness vice-president,
Mr. Allison treasurer, and Mr. Flanagan secretary. Nothing tangible was
attempted by the organization for a number of years, nor was anything definite
even proposed for a long time except to talk about renting or buying a private
house to be used for hospital purposes. In 1908 Mrs. Mary A. Leighton
bequeathed $10,000 for an endowment fund, and in 1910 Clark J. Lawrence
offered $25,000 for the erection of a building upon condition that an equal
sum be raised by subscription, that the name of the association be changed to
the Alice Hyde Hospital Association, and that the institution be known as The
Alice Hyde Memorial Hospital. The conditions were gratefully accepted by the
directors, and the work of canvassing for subscriptions was undertaken
earnestly and prosecuted energetically. A fund of about $50,000 was soon
pledged by subscribers in almost every town in the county in sums of from a
thousand dollars down to a dollar or two each. The directors voted in 1911 to
erect a brick fire-proof building, two stories in height, on the corner of
Park and Third streets, at an estimated cost of about $43,000. The corner
stone was laid October 8, 1911, and the institution was formally opened
September 15, 1913. It is almost continuously filled with patients, has an
adequate corps of superintendents and nurses, a nurses' training school, a
consulting staff composed of eminent non-resident physicians and surgeons, and
house physicians who are local practitioners and serve alternately without
compensation. Since the opening of the institution Mr. and Mrs. Jay 0. Ballard
offered in 1916 to contribute $2,500 for the erection of a building for a
contagious hospital as a memorial to Mrs. Ballard's father and mother. Dr. and
Mrs. Calvin Skinner, upon condition that an equal amount be raised by
subscription; and $13,604 was so pledged for the purpose stated and for other
desired improvements. Colonel William C. Skinner of Hartford, Conn. (son of
Dr. Calvin Skinner) offered at about the same time to erect a nurses' home at
a cost of $10,000, and later removed the limit. As a result a fine structure
has been provided. Mrs. Mary L. King and Mrs. J. C. Levengood contributed
$1,500 each to equip the operating room as a memorial to their father, Hon.
Sidney Lawrence of Moira, and Mrs. Nelson W. Porter, Mrs. Jay 0. Ballard, Mrs.
Jessie Keeler Lasell. Howard D. Hadley and Gustina Gibson gave $250 or more
each to furnish rooms as memorials to deceased relatives. Besides the
subscriptions, the Leighton bequest and the Lawrence donation, Baker Stevens
gave to the association during his lifetime a farm which was sold for $5,125, 
Dr. Henry Furness bequeathed $5,000 to it, Baker Stevens $7,378, S. A. Beman a 
store and office building estimated to be worth $12,000, Clark J. Lawrence
about $50,000, Marcha J. Ryan of Fort Covington $200 and Robert J. Taylor of
Bellmont $500; and Mrs. Lois Lawrence and Mrs. Clara Kilburn have recently
given $1,000 each. The present directors are: Nelson W. Porter, John Kelley,
Phelps Smith, Brayton R. Clark, John A. Grant, Ralph Hastings, Matt C. Ransom,
Edward Blanchard, John P. Kellas, Alexander Macdonald, Thomas Cantweil, Hugh
H. Mullarney, Arthur E. McClary, William H. O'Brien, F. Roy Kirk, Percival F. 
Dalphin, Alfred G. Wilding, Jay 0. Ballard, John A. Flanagan, G. Herbert Hale 
and George B. Humphrey. Mr. Ballard is president, Mr. Porter vice-president,
Mr. Ransom treasurer. and Mr. McClary secretary.

MALONE IN WAR TIMES

  Malone has been touched closely, and at times poignantly, by four wars. In 
that of 1812 with Great Britain it had two militia companies whose
headquarters were in Malone, and whose personnel was mainly, if not wholly,
recruited here, while other residents took the field as members of other local
units; the inhabitants were continuously in apprehension and dread of enemy
incursions or of Indian massacres; the place was for months an army hospital
base with inadequate shelter accommodations and a pitiful shortage of proper
food, medicines, and even bedding and clothing for the sick; a British force
occupied the town for a day upon one occasion in 1814   invading individual
privacy and in some instances perpetrating depredations; and the spirit and
practices of the time corrupted morals and brought lamentable demoralization
generally. There were no battle casualties locally, nor was the spirit of
patriotism universally prevalent.

  As a whole Malone's part in the civil war was large and creditable (even 
glorious is hardly too strong a word), though blackened in a measure by the
talk and conduct of a few men who were in open sympathy with the South. Some
of these did not scruple when volunteers departed for the field of action to
avow hope that they would return only "in a box," to flaunt pins made from the
faces of the old-time copper cents as proclamation of their " copperheadism,"
and to heap upon the President, his advisers and the generals of the Union
armies the bitterest vituperation. But these were so small a minority, and
their sentiments so execrated by the ardent patriotism of the majority, that
they were scorned, and forfeited standing to the degree that both in business
and socially they were practically ostracised.

  At once following the attack upon Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor war 
meetings were held, the first at the Congregational church April 25th, a
company was soon raised, with a few of its members furnished by neighboring
towns, and started for the front May 6, 1861; and throughout the four years
that the struggle continued recruiting went on to fill depleted commands
already in the service, or to add new contingents. Besides the first company
sent out early, which became a part of the 16th regiment, a company was raised
for the 60th, seven companies for the 98th, two for the 106th and three for
the 142d, while there were also many individual and group enlistments in the
96th and 118th, whose headquarters for organization were elsewhere in Northern
New York, as well as in particular commands of artillery and cavalry that
appealed especially to some of the volunteers. Of course not all who composed
the units referred to, or who were identified with scattered regiments, were
Malone residents, but many were gathered from other towns in the county, and
to a small number from the bordering towns in St. Lawrence and Clinton; but
this was the center of inspiration and activity. General Thorndike was active
in recruiting, and William Lowe conducted a recruiting office independently
for a long time, assigning such men as he enlisted to the various regiments
which they wished to join, or turning them over to the men who were raising
companies of which they were to be captains or lieutenants if they reported
with some specified number of recruits. Commissions went in those days to men
who were civilian leaders, and without examination as to military
qualification. Five recruiting officers were active here at one time in 1862.
There were no preliminary training camps for those who were to serve as
officers, nor for the rank and file except during the period that they were in
local barracks awaiting the filling of a command. Then the regiments or
companies were rushed straight to the battle line   a practice which
undoubtedly explains Bull Run and many other disasters. According to a list
compiled by the late Major Daniel H. Stanton, the whole number of Malone men
who were in the army during the four years from 1861 to 1865 was 564   which,
however, counts each man but once, and does not take into consideration the
fact that a considerable number of these re-enlisted after having completed 
one term of service, so that the actual number of men furnished at one time
and another by Malone would doubtless reach well above 600. Among these there
were a few, perhaps 10 per cent., who were drafted, but by far the larger part
were volunteers.

  The drafts during the civil war were on very different lines from those
which govern in the war of 1917. At the first of the drafts a man who was
drawn might accept service himself, procure release by the payment of $300 in
money, or furnish a substitute. In the later drafts there was no provision for
a money commutation, and those drawn had to serve or find substitutes. Toward
the close of the war the cost for a substitute was usually $1,000, for which
the man who paid was able to obtain reimbursement later from the combined
bounty fund offered by the State, the county and the towns. In the early part
of the war the only bounty was $50, which gradually increased until the usual
figure was $1,000. The consequent burden falling upon the taxpayers was
onerous, the total amount raised for bounties alone and for other expenses in
filling quotas by Franklin county and its then sixteen towns having been
$500,106.08. The "other expenses" referred to consisted, in part at least, of
the cost of sending committees to Virginia, where they enlisted soldiers who
were receiving their discharge upon the expiration of one term of service, and
had such recruits credited to the respective towns which the committees
represented, so as to help fill quotas as against a pending draft. In many
cases the men who enlisted as substitutes, or upon their own initiative for
the sake of the bounty, had to be watched and guarded closely. Else some of
them were likely to desert after having received the money, and flee to
Canada, or to some other locality to repeat the procedure. These were known as
"bounty jumpers." The cost locally for every volunteer or conscript from
Franklin county during the civil war was about $200, while in 1917 the county
paid nothing, and the general government only about two dollars per capita.

  While the seven companies which Franklin county furnished for the 98th 
regiment were being recruited the men were quartered as they enlisted in 
barracks built for them on the fair grounds, except that the officers' offices 
were in the old floral hall. An order issued by the adjutant general made an 
allowance of 30 cents per day per man for subsistence. Sutlers sold food and 
other supplies on the grounds, which the men had to pay for themselves. The 
cantonment was denominated in orders "a branch military depot," and was named 
Camp Franklin. The original intention was that the 98th should be exclusively
a Franklin county organization, but it was found practicable at the time to
get together only enough men to constitute seven companies, which were
consolidated with three from Wayne county to complete the outfit. A company
was expected to muster a hundred strong, and each of those in the 98th
regiment had close to that number; but many others went out short of a full
complement. The 98th was mustered into service February 4, 1862, and left
Malone for the South February 21st. As the men marched from quarters to the
railroad station, windows and walks along the route were thronged with people
waving handkerchiefs and flags, and crying approval and godspeed. As the train
pulled out there were rousing cheers, and it was noted that tears were
coursing the cheeks of those who had relatives or other dear ones in the
command.

  In many cases, not only with respect to the 98th, but also in other
commands, the townsmen or townswomen of an officer presented him with his sash
and sword, and war work by those remaining at home was prosecuted earnestly
and zealously, though doubtless not nearly as well systematized as like effort
in the present. The women formed their local circles under the United States
sanitary commission, and scraped lint from old linen for use in dressing
wounds. They also made blackberry brandy for administering to those suffering
with bowel troubles, and jellies and other delicacies for the sick. At holiday
times men and women collected in neighborhoods large quantities of supplies to
be sent both to local barracks and to troops that had taken the field. As a
single illustration, 25 barrels of poultry and home cookery were forwarded to
the South in 1864 at one shipment by a single Malone district in order to give
the soldiers a Thanksgiving treat.

  At one of the earliest of the war meetings a fund of $10,000 was pledged by 
individuals for the relief and care of the families of those who should 
volunteer, and the amount was afterward increased from time to time. There was 
no regulation then providing for the reservation of a part of a soldier's pay 
for the use and benefit of his dependents at home, and that pay was only $13 a 
month in depreciated currency. On the other hand, bounties were paid, which is 
not the case now. We are contributing as individuals in 1917 and 1918 large 
amounts for various war purposes   for a company fund for our first
organization in the field, for the work of the Young Men's Christian
Association and of the Knights of Columbus, for remembrances to the men in the
service, for the Red Cross and for other causes   but similar offerings were
made during the civil war also, though of course very much smaller because our
people were fewer and poorer, while in contrast with the procedure of half a
century ago we are now paving scarcely anything for the cause through
distinctively local taxation. True, the difference in the methods of the two
periods is that under the one everybody had to contribute proportionately to a
tax whether willing or unwilling, and under the other of voluntary
contributions the mean and sordid escape altogether. As to federal taxation,
while the amount now levied is vastly greater, I doubt if the scheme of it
touches as many articles of general use, or hits as large a proportion of
people of ordinary means, as did the revenue measures of 1861 to 1865. In any
case, the present will have to be a very long war if the money burdens that it
lays upon our county shall come to total a half million dollars plus what our
fathers contributed voluntarily as individuals.

  Neither occupation nor dependency served to exempt a drafted man during the 
civil war. Except as to the draft of 1863, he had to serve when drawn if
within the limits of twenty to forty-five years of age, and if physically fit,
or procure a substitute. The existing scheme of selective conscription is 
theoretically perfect,, in that it reaches with discrimination the idler and
the industrious, and without discriminating between the rich and the poor, and 
exempts under proper proof those who can be more useful in the home fields or 
shops than in the trenches or along the battle front. Moreover, the men who
were drafted during the civil war and accepted service because of it did not
have quite the standing with their neighbors and with the public generally as
the volunteers, while now the status of the one is practically on an equality
with that of the other. The reproach which attached to the conscript in the
civil war is altogether absent under the existing plan.

  There were, too, during the civil war the prototypes of to-day's pacifists
and pro-Germans in the "copperhead," and of the "slackers" in the men who
sneaked into Canada to escape the drafts, and who were called "skedaddlers."

WAR PRICES

  Prices soared during the civil war, particularly for cottons, sugar and 
coffee, but it is doubted if articles of food or household supplies generally 
averaged as high then as now, and emphatically so if it be remembered in the 
reckoning to consider that in the former time we bought with depreciated 
dollars, worth at times less than half as much as gold. Almost anything passed 
commonly as currency   postage stamps, metal tokens issued by mercantile or 
manufacturing concerns for cents, paper promises to pay that were put out 
similarly, and federal treasury notes in fractional parts of a dollar; five, 
ten, twenty-five and fifty cents in nominal value, which were called 
"shinplasters." The tokens and most of the commercial promises to pay were
never redeemed, and even of the government issues millions of dollars were
lost or destroyed, or are still outstanding as curios. But however prices may
compare in figures for the two periods, those of the civil war time were, I
think, the more grievous and crashing, because the people were poorer and had
long been accustomed to very low values. A family expense book for the year
ending April 1, 1861, is before me as I write, and shows the whole cost of
living for husband, wife and one child for the twelve months to have been
$286.27. The expenditures included clothing, attendance occasionally at an
entertainment, taxes and apparently every item of the cost of living with the
exception of house rent. Some of the outgo was for coffee at 10 c. per pound,
rice at 6c., butter at 13c., cheese at three pounds for a quarter, beef in
lots of 10 to 30 pounds at from 4c. to 8-c., sugar at 9c., a hog at 6c. per
pound, and berries at 5c. per quart. To bound from such a basis to the war
prices that followed was naturally vexing, and, with tastes less luxurious and
means smaller than have since become the rule, strict economy, not to say
pinching and scrimping, was practiced. People simply denied themselves utterly
many things the purchase of which they deemed an extravagance, or used
substitutes. I remember in particular that in many families peas, beans and
corn were roasted and used for coffee, either alone or in admixture with the
genuine article; and maple sugar, then salable at only about half the price of
the cane product, served not uncommonly for tea or coffee sweetening, as well
as in general cookery. It is also of interest to note that the coffee habit
has grown greatly in half a century, for page after page in the ledger of a
firm of Malone merchants covering the civil war period fails to show a single
charge to farmers for coffee, and even the accounts of the wealthiest village
customers include items for it but rarely. Other economies practiced were that
every household that was at all forehanded always had its own barrel of corned
beef and salt pork, and its kit or keg of salmon and mackerel; bought beef by
the quarter, side or "critter," and a half or whole pig in early winter for
fresh meat instead of running to a market daily; and many men, instead of
buying their clothes ready-made or having them made to order, would purchase
cloth, get it cut at a tailor's, and have it made by the womenfolk at home or
by a seamstress whose charge would be not more than a third or a half of a
tailor's.

  From an old-time local merchant's ledger, together with a table of prices 
quoted in a newspaper, I am able to fix values that were current for a few 
articles during the war of 1812; those which ruled in 1863, 1864 and 1865 I
have sifted from the ledger of a leading mercantile house in Malone during the 
period; and the figures in effect in the closing weeks of 1917 are those given 
me by .a merchant now in trade as those that the stores generally asked at 
retail, and some of which are considerably higher in 1918. In the 1863-5
column of the table that follows of course the range covers both various
qualities and price fluctuations during three years; The quotations given for
fresh beef, pork, veal, ham, turkey, hay, wood, corn, cornmeal and potatoes in
the civil war time are the prices that one of the proprietors paid to
customers and charged to himself   the concern not having dealt generally in
those commodities. The table follows:

                                    1814           Civil War          1917
Calico, yard                        62c @ 75c      19c @ 45c          15c
Muslin, yard                                       37 1/2 c @ 75c     10c @
50c
Cotton, yard                        60c @ 72c      25c @ 63 1/2 c     20c
Gingham, yard                       50c            28c @ 37 1/2 c     18c @
20c
Cambric, yard                       88c @ $1.50    56 1/2 c           23c @
25c
Wood, cord of 128 feet                             $2 @ $4            $10 @
$12
Ham (whole), pound                  20c            14c @ 22c          30c @
35c
Fresh pork (whole pig), pound                      10c                23c @
24c
Veal by the quarter, pound                         10c @ 12 1/2 c     28c
Native beef by the quarter, pound                  9c                 10c @
12c
Turkey, pound                                      12 1/2 c           40c @
45c
Salt pork, barrel                   $25 @ $30                         $52 @
$53
Butter, pound                       17c @ 22c      20c @ 47c          45c @
50c
Sugar, pound                        17c @ 20c      15c @ 35c          10c
Tea, pound                          $1.23 @ $2.85  $1.50 @ $2         40c
Coffee, pound                                      40c @ 75c          18c @
40c
Starch, pound                                      12c @ 19c          10c
Flour, barrel                                      $7 @ $14           $13
Potatoes, bushel                                   40c @ 63c          $1.20 @ 
$1.50
Eggs, dozen                         20c            12 1/2 c @ 20c     60c @
65c
Corn meal, 100 pounds                              $2.00              $4.35
Corn, bushel                        $1.42          87 1/2 c @ $1.13   $2.43
Oats,bushel                         58c            45c @ 75c          90c
Hay, ton                            $8             $8 @ $13           $22
Brooms, each                                       25c @ 50c          80c @
85c
Axes, each                                         $1.50 @ $1.75      $1.25
Nails, pound                                       6c @ 9c            5 1/2 c
@ 6 c
Kerosene, gallon                                   75c @ $1.25        13c


  In the Malone merchants' book from which the civil war quotations are
gleaned I find no charge for salt pork during the war, but am authentically
informed that in 1864 or 1865 the price reached $45 per barrel in Chicago,
which was the record price until a few weeks ago sales were made in that same
market at wholesale at over $50 per barrel. Butter sold at retail in Malone in
the closing months of the war, or shortly afterward, at 50c. per pound, and in
1867 and 1868 starch brought 25c. per pound, and corn meal $2.50 per hundred
pounds. The high price for flour was soon after the close of the war, $18 per
barrel, but it did not stay at that figure long. So, too, some values have
been greater since the present war began than they were in December, 1917  
particularly for potatoes, which sold a few months earlier at $3 per bushel,
and even in November, 1917, at wholesale for a day or two at $1.50 per bushel.
Dressed hogs, whole, commanded 25c. per pound at one time, and flour $18 per
barrel.

  Some of the present high prices have a legitimate cause, particularly in the 
case of cotton, for which war demands are prodigious. Every discharge of a 
twelve-inch gun consumes half a bale of cotton, and a machine gun in action
uses a bale every three minutes. Absorbent cotton for staunching and binding
wounds call for 20,000 bales a year; one change of apparel for the present
United States army alone requires more than a million bales: another million
bales go annually into explosives; and 100,000 bales will be needed to equip
the aeroplane fleet if, as seems probable, linen shall come to be
unobtainable.

  During the civil war the national debt ran up to more than three billions of 
dollars, but, so far as I know, no one was importuned personally, or otherwise 
except by circularizing or newspaper advertising, to buy bonds. By express
terms all of these bonds were redeemable in gold, but were marketed in
exchange for depreciated paper currency. Some of them bore interest at as high
a rate as seven and three-tenths per cent.

CONFEDERATE RAIDS APPREHENDED AT MALONE

  In the afternoon of October 19, 1864, each of the three banks in St. Albans, 
Vt., was entered by two or three strangers, who, presenting revolvers at the 
heads of clerks and officers, proceeded to loot the institutions, securing
about $150,000 in money. They were confederates who had come into the place
from Canada, and who stated afterward that they had been sent North by General
Early to engage in such exploits. They forced the bank officials to take an
oath of allegiance to the confederate government, and to swear that they would
divulge nothing of what was transpiring until two hours should have elapsed.
The affair caused a tremendous sensation all along the northern border, and,
apprehensive that a similar raid might be undertaken upon Malone, two
companies of home guards were quickly recruited here   one of infantry and one
of cavalry. The leading men of the community enrolled in the organizations,
and rendered active, serious service. The cavalry had Charles Durkee for
captain, and Chas. C. Whittelsey for first and William H. Barney for second
lieutenant. The infantry had over a hundred members, with Joel J. Seaver as
captain, Charles W. Breed as first and Martin Callaghan as second lieutenant.
Both organizations were armed by the government notwithstanding none of the
members was regularly enlisted. The old fire-engine house, then on a lot near
the Wead Library, was fitted up with bunks, and served as military
headquarters. A detail of the infantry was on duty every night for about two
months   a part of the force patrolling the streets and picketing the village
outskirts until midnight or later, with relief at an agreed hour by the
contingent who had been sleeping in the engine house, which the relieved men
then occupied until morning.

  In January, 1865, Newton H. Davis, who had seen service in the 98th
regiment, recruited a company of cavalry here under government sanction for
frontier defense, and the Durkee and Seaver commands were thereupon disbanded,
and their arms surrendered. The company of Captain Davis was supplied with
horses by a Massachusetts company that was stationed at Champlain. It was
quartered in Malone, a part of the time in King's Hall and a part on the fair
grounds, for about three months, and the remainder of its time in service at
Camp Wheeler near Ogdensburg. When President Lincoln, was shot- this company
scouted along the border from Malone to Rouses Point, not always careful to
keep south of the Canadian boundary, in search of the conspirators. The
company was mustered out in June, 1865.

  In addition to these three local organizations, a company from Vermont and 
another from Massachusetts, both composed of veterans whom wounds or sickness 
had incapacitated for service at the front, were on duty in Malone for a few 
months in 1865. One of these companies had quarters in the barracks on the
fair grounds, and the other in the large Parker or Rounds house on the flat in
which the deaf-mute school found accommodations at one time, and which is now
a tenement.

  No confederate movement upon Malone was ever made, and the several 
organizations had only routine services to render. Their existence and
presence contributed to relieve the apprehension of the civilian population,
and created a sense of security locally.

  The war with Spain in 1898 affected Malone hardly at all, and the town had
no appreciable part in it save to send a score or more of its young men to the 
army. These got no nearer Cuba than South Carolina, and thus were never in 
battle danger. Their failure to enter more actively into the war, however, was 
due in no degree to themselves, and it was as patriotic a service that they
gave as though greater hardship and greater hazard had been experienced.

MALOXE'S PART IN THE PRESENT WAR

  The declaration by Congress in April, 1917, of a state of war with Germany
had a response in public sentiment strikingly unlike that attending any other
war in which the United States ever engaged. There has been no flash of
popular wrath or passion   which is not at all to imply that our people are
not in earnest and full approval of it, nor that a cold, resolute
determination to "see it through" is lacking. The only real impatience rests
upon the wish that matters might be made to move more swiftly, and that our
sluggard indifference to military preparation years ago caused for a time
discomfort and a menace to the health of the men who are in training.

  Malone's part in the struggle has not been inconsiderable, nor in any
respect wanting in honorable and useful endeavor; but the record of the town
is so interwoven with that of other towns, and carries so many independent and 
individual operations, that the story of it can not to be told separately, 
connectedly and completely. Our military organization, known as Company K of
the first regiment of the national guard, was promptly recruited to a strength
of 150 men (not all of them from Malone), which was nearly twice its normal
peace average; and weeks before the government was ready to receive it had
waited in impatience for the call to service duty. It left Malone August 15,
1917, and, except for a short stay in the vicinity of New York city, went into
training at Spartanburg, South Carolina. Unfortunately the best interests of
the service were thought to require the dismemberment of the company in order
that by transfer of most of its men another command (the famous old Seventh of
New York, now the 107th U. S. Inf.) might be brought up to the regimental
strength that is deemed standard; and only Captain Marshall and a handful of
his men were left to preserve the identity of the unit, which has since been
recruited to its former numbers from the conscription camps. The men are
waiting and learning,* with their friends and townsmen confident that upon
arrival "somewhere in France" they will acquit themselves with honor, and make
a record of valorous and efficient service.

* They have gone to France since this was written.

  Of those comprising the first conscription Malone furnished fifty, and has 
since added largely to that number. Besides, it has a nice representation from 
its very best element of young manhood who have taken their courses in
officers' training camps, and are now in commission with rank ranging from
second lieutenant to major.

  In contrast with army conditions during the civil war, the differences are 
striking in many particulars. The volunteers and those drafted are paid $30
per month each as against $13 allotted from 1861 to 1865. Instead of being
rushed at once, raw and inexperienced, to the battle line, both volunteers and
conscripts go into camps for months of seasoning, drill and thorough practical
instruction in the new methods of warfare; and absolute prohibition of places
for the sale of alcoholic liquors and of brothels or bawdy houses in or near
such camps, under severe penalties, is embodied in the law. Nor may liquor be
sold to a man in uniform anywhere. Measures to make camp conditions sanitary
are had which would have been impossible a half a century ago, because they
were then all unknown to medical science; and the aim is constantly in view to
keep the men not only physically clean, but morally so also. Still, lack of
previous military preparation is about as seriously felt now as it was at the
beginning of the civil war, and arms, munitions and clothing have been
lamentably short of requirements.

  As against deprivation of the bounty benefits in the civil war, the
government is not only granting larger pay, but makes generous provision for
the relief of needy families of its soldiers, and writes insurance at low
rates in sums of from one thousand to ten thousand dollars for each of the men
who may be prostrated by disease, or crippled or killed   the initial
appropriations for which aggregate $176,500,000. Soldiers with dependent wives
or children are not permitted to draw in excess of half their pay, and must
allot the other moiety to dependents. To such allotment the government is
pledged to add and pay to Dependents amounts monthly ranging from $5 up to
$50. In addition, there are to be pensions for the disabled or for the
survivors of the killed. It thus appears that, upon the whole, the soldiers of
1917 fare rather better as regards remuneration and provision in the event of
calamity than those who fought the civil war; and surely the scheme of the
present law is saner.

  Of Malone's home efforts while its sons are in the field it is writ large
that those whose lot is simply to work and wait are doing their best, whole 
heartedly, and almost to the last man, woman and child. Weeks of time and
labor have been given along many lines by many individuals cheerfully and
without compensation. A home defense organization took a military census,
prepared a registration of those liable for military service, instituted and
prosecuted a campaign for increased agricultural production and for the
conservation of food, and arranged for and held public meetings at which
addresses were made for the fostering of patriotic interest and endeavor.
Canvasses for funds for almost innumerable purposes in connection with the war
have been successfully carried through. These include large subscriptions for
Liberty Bonds as an investment, and outright giving for a company fund for
Company K, for the Young Woman's Christian Association, for the Y. M. C. A.
and Knights of Columbus joint fund, for the Salvation Army, for Red Cross
membership and for Red Cross activities in all parts of the world. All of this
has been pushed with vigor and with a response most creditable. The moneys
given outright reach well up into tens of thousands of dollars, and the
Liberty Bond purchases close to a million. The Franklin County Chapter of the
Red Cross has nearly nine thousand members, inclusive of duplications, and of
these more than half are residents of Malone. Twice weekly a hundred or more
of these members in Malone assemble and work together in the preparation of
surgical dressings, in the knitting of sweaters and socks, and in making
comfort bags and other articles for field and hospital uses. Additionally,
hundreds of individual women are knitting and sewing in their spare hours at
home. The chapter and the Knights of Columbus together have raised funds
considerably in excess of forty thousand dollars for the purchase of yarns and
other materials, and are drawing upon them unstintedly. A single purchase of
yarn by the local Red Cross chapter in 1917 called for $3,000, and nine sewing
machines operated by electric motors are kept humming in the workrooms.

  When with the federalizing of the national guard it became the policy of the 
State to establish home defense companies and also a body of troops to be
known as the State guard, Malone formed a company of each sort: and at a
special meeting of the board of supervisors in June an appropriation of $7,500
was voted for arming and equipping the Malone home defense organization and
others of the same character that were recruited in Bangor, Chateaugay,
Saranac Lake, St. Regis Falls and Tupper Lake. The Malone unit had about 100
members, and for several months met weekly for drill. Jay 0. Ballard was its
captain, Arthur E. McClary first lieutenant, and V. B. Roby second lieutenant.
Uniforms were purchased, but before arms had been procured the State
authorities determined that interest and effort be concentrated upon the State
guard organizations, and that the home defense companies go out of existence.
Accordingly the Malone company was disbanded; but those elsewhere in the
county except in Bangor volunteering for the State guard were mustered into
that body. Of the $7,500 appropriated about $3,400 had not been expended, and
it is expected that the State will reimburse the county for the $4,100 paid
out for uniforms.

  Malone's company of the State guard has eighty-odd members. John W. Genaway
is captain, Daniel W. Flack first lieutenant, and Frank S. Steenberge second 
lieutenant. It has been provided with rifles and uniforms. With similar 
companies at Chateaugay, Saranac Lake, St. Regis Falls, Tupper Lake,
Plattsburgh and Ogdensburg it comprises a battalion.

ADDENDUM

  One of the fiercest electric storms ever known in this section, accompanied
by a high wind, swept over the eastern part of St. Lawrence county and through 
Franklin about to the east line of the town of Malone on the evening of August 
7, 1918. There was hail also, with some of the stones of prodigious size. 
Probably no other as destructive storm covering so considerable a territory
has ever been known in the county with the exception of the Chateaugay tornado
of 1856. Its track was eight or ten miles wide at some points, and while
individual losses were generally slight the aggregate of destruction was
considerable. Few buildings, or none at all, other than barns and silos, were
wrecked, but of these the number destroyed was large; and crop losses were
heavy   in hop gardens the poles having been blown down and the arms of the
vines broken or badly whipped, and orchards and fields of grain and corn
having suffered severely. In the village of Malone the greatest destruction
was of shade trees. Trees of from a foot to three feet and over in diameter
were snapped off near the ground or uprooted by the hundreds, and giant limbs
were wrenched off. In a number of instances the trees or limbs fell upon
dwellings, which were partly wrecked, and nearly every street was blocked to
traffic by fallen trees which spanned the roadways. A few buildings in the
village were stripped of their tin roofing. Electric light and telephone wires
everywhere were broken, and streets, places of business and residences were in
darkness without exception until the lines could be repaired. One marvels in
considering the evidences everywhere apparent of the force and fury of the
wind that no substantial structures were demolished.