Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1921-06-15
GEO. METCALFE TELLS OF
THE REAL DAVID HARUM.

Geo H. Metcalfe, former Grant
county attorney who now resides in
Cortland, New York, writes Platte
vile friends entertainingly of the real
David Harum depicted in the famous
novel by Edward Noyes Westcott,
twenty-odd years ago. Mr.. Metcalfe
says:
1t may be- interesting to know that
the subject of the book rather its
principal character, David Harum
formerly lived at Homer and died
there several years ago. His real
name was David Harrium. Homer is
a village OF about $500 population
connected by street railway with the
city Of Cortland and about two miles
distant, Several industries at Homer
are named after David Harum. The
David Harum Canning Company, the
David Harum Hotel, etc. This is the
same hotel that David Harum was
formerly the owner and landlord of
and is still being run. The barn
where he kept his horses is still in
existence but is now garage. He
owned at one time about 1000 acres
of land in around Homer and it is
L
However when David Harum died he
had lost about all of his property and
it remained for a travelling man who
in some way found it out to erect a
monument to the memory Of David
Harum. Now David Harum, if we
may believe the accounts of the old
residents around here who knew him,
was not the angelic and liberal man
nor the honest one that the author of
the book depicts him. He was a
shrewd sharp dealer and not too par
ticular in his representations when he
desired to make a deal. And he did
own the bank at Homer at one time.
Among the various enterprises in
which he was engaged was the Car
diff Giant sensation. Some Of our
readers will remember about he dis
covery of this prehistoric giant" 1t
was made at some little town in Iowa,
shipped from there to the village of
Union, near Binghampton, removed
from the train there and taken by
team to the town of Cardiff in the
county of OnOndaga and there buried.
Two years later it was accidentally"
dug up and Immediately attracted the
the attention of scientists all over the
country and they pronounced it gen
uine. 1t was exhibited in all the large
cities of the country and made a lot
of money for it's owners including
David Harum. But during a quarrel
over the division of the profits one of
them gave the whole thing away
And even then the scientists who
claimed that it was genuine doubted
the assertion that it had been manu-
featured and so in order to determine
whether or not it was genuine they
agreed to saw it into and this was
done when the fake was at once
proven This giant" is now in SYRIA
cuse University and is one of the eX-
hibits in the historical department.
But on the whole David Harum was a
likable, genial sort of a person who
had many friends.
We are having a very fine spring
here and farm work for the spring
is about completed. Notwithstanding
the low price of all farm produce the
acreage has not been lessened to any
great degree. Farm help is much
plentier and wages considerably low
er than last year. Milk for the month
of June brings $1.95 per hundred on
a three per cent basis within the 20
miles zone from New York city. The
recent frosts have damaged the fruit
crop some but still it is claimed that
the damage it not as extensive as at
first feared. And while the prices of
all farm products have fallen, land
has reduced very little, if any, in
price.
Manufacturing plants here are re-
operations and we expect that
times will soon be normal.