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About La Grande evening observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1904-1959 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 2, 1910)
VOLTJUE IX LA GRAHDE. UNION COUNTY. OREGON. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2. 1910 NUI.IBER73 ti ll i t 1 ? POISON ID ; FIRE TRIED WHAT IS THOUGHT TO EE PLAN TO EXTERMINATE F AlilLY CAUS ES BEATH AD LOSS MOTHER AND ONE CHILD ... ALREADY DEAD FROM FIRE Neighbors come to rescue of WJscon. sin famDy In time to me some of the children and husband from fire but all are dying from effects of poison thought to have been ad ministered by some enemy - Washburn, Wis., Feb. 2. Pohion and fire are believed to have been the weapons used by unknown as BasslnB In an attempt to destroy the family Of P. Behranta today. The Bebrants home Is practically In ruins, and three chllren are dying of poison and another of the children Is dead. Behrans escaped with his life but Is Buffering from the effects of the poison. V The Behrants home was discovered afire early this morning, Neighbors who responded to the alarm found Behrants, clad in his night clothes, running about the yard apparently crazed from pain.- The rescuers en tered the burning home and found Mrs. Behranta dead. 'In her arms , waa the dead body of her child. ' Neither had been touched by. the names, inree otner cnuaren were . found In their bedroom unconscious and dying. An Investigation by the authorities la under way. Behrants declared he could not ascribe any motive for the crime. - WgHH Lin... teafestofaii Salts: J'till Continues to be a hummer. Stye Crowded all day Saturday. Tuesday will give to first 25 ladies en tering our stored) yards best Ameri can print for - - 25 cents jrf few Zed jtot Specials One lot of children's coats, One lot of boy's school suit, good colors and sizes from 4 to. good assortment to choose from 10 worth up to $6. on Bale for , .' a good value for $4. on sale for $1.98 $J.95 Mens ribbed underwear, all Blze .' Boys heavy fleece lined under regular 40c seller on Bale for wear, regular 40c to 60c selling J6c J9c Chlldrens $1. to $1.25 sweaters , . One lot of pillow tops, good de sizes 20 to 24, color red, gray, signs, regular COc to 75c sel and white, on Eale for . lar on Bale for 68c J9c CANDLEMAS DAY : BEING CELEBRATED THOUGH IN CONNECTION WITH GROUNDHOG HOT BELATED ' Cold weather superstition with rell gions observance features London, , Feb.', 2. Although the groundhog has, no connection with this day in King Edward's realm there are many old superstitions con nected with Candlemas Day. This is especially true of Scotland, whose In habitants firmly believe" In the old legend: "If Candlemas Day be fair and "Clear There'll be twa winters lri the year." . In Scotland if a tenant falls to pay his quarterly tent on Candlemas Day It Is a sure sign that he will ba In disfavor with the landlord; for It Is one of the four term days In the Scot tish law for this transaction. Candlemas Day Is, as Its name sig nifies, the occasion for the Bolemn annual consecration of the candles to be used In the church services for the ensuing year, and the procession with , lighted candles constitues one of the most ceremonial events of the church calendar. . Its solemnity . is added to by Its signification of the purification of the Virgin Mary. Anciently the Angelican Churc marked the day by candle-hearing ceremonies, .which were done In the memory of Christ as a spiritual "light to enlighten the Gentiles." Be fore the Christian era the Romans on this' day burned candles in honor of the Goddess Febura,-the : mother of Mars. ;,.., : -" Many Iowa Conventions Des Moines, la., Feb. 2. Members of the Farm .Grain Dealers Associa tion convened today In annual ses sion. More than 100 conventions are to be. held In Des Moines this year and they will probably bring 100,000 visitors to the city. ' mn mps COMMITTEE FlllDS DMOIIS III Following a thorough ivestigatlon by a committee of five of the school conditions In La Grande, a report from that committee to the Commer cial Club last night, and a meeting of the same committee again this forenoon at which two more men were present, namely W. J. Cbruch and C. T. Bacon. $75,000 Is the sum agreed upon as being the very low est that will build a high Bchool, equip it and repair the grade schools. day, the original committee consist ed of George Stoddafd, Turner Oli ver, J. D, Stout, W. L. Brenholts and John Slater, left the amount of the proposed building blank. That com mittee and the two other mon met this morning and computing on the basis of 12 1-2 cents to the cubic foot 2 1-2 cents ibwer than the cus tomary costagreed that to acommo date 300 pupils a $60,000 building Is necessary, the rest to be used to re pair the grade schools. .Today's rec ommendations will be filed with the school board. The report In full as found by , the Investigation commit tee follows: La Grande, Ore., Jan. 31st, 1010. To the La Grande Commercial Club, Gentlemen: The following is a brief report of the condition that we find existing in the La Grande schools and also the improvements that In our Judgment are required to make our schools in keeping with the city of La Grande. , We visited the central building and found that in order to acommo date the students, it Is necessary to use the upper hall for a study room. This makes the present heating plant Inadequate In cold weather, to heat the, building properly. We also find the existing condi tions that in case of fire it would be impossible for the pupils to make their escape, as the stairways lead- lag from the basement would make a flue, should the fire start in the base ment, and which would cut off all chance of escape.. And we must here say. that the basement in its present condition la a fire trap, and we would recommend that all the wood parti tions around the furnaces be taken out and be replaced with masonry ones.' ; We would also recommed that the celling of the basement' be plas tered, Through making these im provements it would mitigate the risk of fire starting in the basement We would also recommend that every thing of a combustable nature be re moved from the basement, with the exception of the fuel. We next visited the White Frame Building and we must say it is a Tery undesirable building in which to hold school. In the first place It Is a fire trap and has to be heated with stoves, thus making proper ventila tion Impossible, and should fire ever start in this building, we feel that there would be very few children es cape alive. s We next visited the little brick building north of the track which we must say Is a disgrace to any civ ilized community, and is not an In viting place for children to attend. And it seems to us that the Impres sion made upon the. minds of the pu pils attending a school of this kind would not be of an elevatng nature. The rooms are shabby the- paper falling off, and floors worn out, and every feature about it is unsightly. ine outDuiidings are disease breed ers and a disgrace to a country town. . . We then visited the north building which wt find tery inviting and tt DEPLORABLE COli ALL BUIDIUGS this building were finished it would be a credit to any city. At the pres ent ttm it Is heated with stoves, which are. very undesirable, as It is impossible to distribute the beat prop erly in cold weather and have the is all ready for the Installment of a heating plant and water closets, which should be Installed. in order to properly take care of the school children of this city is is necessary that we have . an up-to- date High School. This would take grade, and then the Central School Building and the ', North Building would take care of the lower grades In good shape at the present time. There are other reasons why we should have a high school building which are as follows: 1 Owing to a lack of . suitable rooms, properly equipped with plumb ing ventilating hoods, lighting, etc the work of the Science Department has been greatly handicapped. It has been impossible to do any. work in chemistry. The work in phyBlcs has been done for the most part without experiments, which, render the work bookish and Inefficient. Bi ological subjects have been ,,. poorly' presented, owing' to the. lack of a separate room and proper aparatus. 2 The Commercial Department has no separate quarters, which ren ders effclent progress along those lines vcr? difficult. 3 There Is no assembly' room, provided with etage.etc, wher public speaking, debating, literary work and chours training can be done. 4 The present building affords no place for manual training, which is one of the - most practical depart ments of a modern high school. Also, there Is no place for physical train ing. . La Grande schools are behind in that they have no department of manual training, and no gymnasium where attention can be given to phy sical cluture. 5 The High School Department Is now crowded with an enrollment of 103 -students. At the opening of the school in September there will be promoted to the high school 36 children from Mrs. Bullard's room, 42 from Miss Bush's room and possi bly 38 from Miss Mcllroy's room. Un der these conditions there will not be even seating room for the stu dents. '. A separate building for high school students Is desirable from the standpoint of discipline. Grade stu dents need one kind of discipline while high schools students need a different kind. This is necessary to make self-governing men and women out of our boys and girls. 7 Owing to tho above named de fects, the La Grande high school is not np to the standard of even the average high schools of the North west. Our 'graduates cannot hope to be accepted to full college entrance until better facilities and better equipments have been provided. In making this report we donot want it understood that we are crit icizing the action of the school board as we, feel that they are doing all they can under the existing condi tions. . . . . ' Respectfully, Committee. . Geo. Stoddard, J. D. Stout, J. L. Slater, .W. L. Brenholts, Turner Oli ver. A New Invention. At the M. & M. Co's. toworrow, the 3d, there will be exhibited the Peerless Thill Supporter, of interest to all owners of buggies, see it demonstrated. Come and ', -NEW PARIS VICt NEW PLAT WILL BE SHOWS IN AMERICA TONIGHT. Thrilling expose of new vice In Paris that of ether drinking. New York, Feb. 2. Ravages due to ether drinking, now a popular vice In Paris, are depicted in a realistic manner in Alexander Blssom's new play, "Madame X," which will have Its American premiere tonight The drama produced a great sensation In the French capital. Jane Hard ing will play the part of Jacqueline In the American production. Jacqueline is the wife af a Parlsan attorney who deserts her husband and littllfc boy. After 20 years of dls sapation she takes , up ether drink' Ing to drown her woes. Her compan her husband. , She kills Laroque to keep him from betraying' her iden tity ; to her. son, now an attorney. Her son defends her on the trial and her wronged, husband Is presi dent of the court, but neither recog nize her. After the trial the eon learns that his client is his mother, and she uies as husband and son forgive her. . SACRAMENTO AND SAN FRANCIS CO IN rRATER ATTITUDE. Want rates from Ogden changed Claim dlscraminatlon also. San Francisco, Feb. 2. Oral argu ments wll be heard today by the In terstate Commerce Commission on the application of : Sacramento and San Francisco for lower distributive rates on the Southern Pacific lines east of Sacramento and west of Og den, Utah.. ... V. Consistency in rate making, and the claim . that the present rate is much' too high is the basis of the arguments - for the reduction of the rates by the two cities. The demand made distinctly for the reduction of rates between Sacramento and Og den, as the rates between San Fran cisco are kept Ibw on account of competition by water. I HILL DAY IS SET WASHINGTONS BIRTHDAY TIME OF CHAMPIONSHIP SCRAP. ' Nelson and Wolgast will meet at Alameda at 45 rounds. San Francisco, Feb. . 2. Following a conference with Battling Nelnjm, who ; arrived here today, Promoter Sid. Hester announced that the Nelson-Wolgast fight will ' be held on Washington's birthday by the Ala meda Athletic Club in the city of Alameda. The fight will be for 45 rounds, which is possible in Ala meda county. Terminate Agreement Washington, Feb. 2. The com mercial agreement between England and the United States respecting lm port duties on English works of art entering the United States and druta n.frs samples entering the United Kingdom, entered Into on November 1 1907, was officially terminated to- jay. ; '': SeD FOR NELSON Mil .ITISSIS RUN TO EARTH I EASTERLY QUIZZING AND AN3 WEBING THE TWO E'.EN AEE FIGHTING IT OUT TO A WWl TWO IMPORTANT TODiTS GAINED BY GOVERNMENT Hermann admits that he knew the general points about what the re serves would mean in a graft way and admits' that bad he temporar ily withdrawn school land that the frauds would have been averted. ney Is having his inning today at the Hermann trial. Beginning slowly yes terday afternoon in the cross exam- ' Ination of Hermann, he took the " fendant through his early career in O' Oregon up to the time when ha be- . gan his services as Commissioner of the Land Offce. Then he plunged sharply Into th subject. During all tho morning session It has been a game ; fence, thrust and parry be- 1 tween the government prosecutor on one Bide and the defendant on the ether. ''';.; '. t Candor compels the statement that at times during the contest Honey baa passed the armor defense ; nd ! drawn blood.. Heney has forced two important points from Hermann; na that. he Suida . jteneral knowledge of . the fact that the school lands could;- -be and perhaps were 'being used for fraudulent exchange under lleti of th land act of 1901, and the other that he had made a temporary withdrawal of the proposed reserves as soon as -the Investigation into the feasibility of the reserves were commenced it would have served as an effectual bar against the Bchool land or other ' frauds. ; . These two points came into Ho ney's possession after, much parry- ing between the witness and the pro- secutor and may trips about the rar ious details of the land office rout- ine and back again to the main ques- ' tion, always skillfully parried by th ' -witness. VV'. ' r FIREBREAKS OUT IN ELGIN IIALLOARTII BUILDING AFIRE AT AN EARLY HOUB One place of business destroyed and others threatened. . Elgin, Feb. 2 (Special) An early morning fire In the Hallgarth build ing, corner Front and D. street, her this morning did nearly $1000 damago to the Hickle soft drink emporium and other. places of business, routed out many roomers In the Hallgarth. rooming house on the second floor of the building and threatened the elec tric theatre and complete destruc tion of the building before the fire de partment mastered the flames. At 6 o'clock this1 morning a slight explosion of some sort in the soft drink Bhop,- at present unknown, start ed the fire. The place's contents fero aesiroyea completely. The roorser on the second floor were routed! out nerore tne smoke and fire had fc er- lounly threatened any of the ifur-r- nlshlnga on that floor. v ' ' To Flay Imblcr J The B. M. A. basketball teatri has made ararngements to go to I; next Saturday afternoon. i bier -i iiTmwii linn