mmt
VOL. XLVIII. o. 14,748.
PORTLAND, OREGON, THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 1908.
PRICE FIVE CENTS.
SLAIN BY
HUNDREDS
Nearly 200 Children
Roasted in School
House Fire
OR CRUSHED IN THE PANIC
Disaster at Suburb of Cleve
land Desolates Many Homes.
FUMES CUT OFF RETREAT
Doors Open Inwards or Are
Locked Against Escape.
TEACHERS DIE WITH FLOCK
Boy's Hair Burns Off in Mother's
Hand and He Falls Back Into
Flame l.htlc Bodies Disfig
ured Beyond Recognition.
- CLBVBLAND. O.. March 4. Penned in
p&rrow hallway, jammed up against
doors that opened only inward, 170 chil
dren In the suburb of North Collingrwood
today- were killed by fire, by smoke and
WrieatU .the grinding1 heels of their panics
(trlchen playmates.
The awful tragedy oeouTed thin morn
ins: In the public Ri-hool of North Colllng
wood, tea miles east of this city. At 10
o'clock tonight 165 corpses wero in the
morgue at Collingwood. six children were
still unaccounted for. and all the hospit
als and houses for two miles around con
tained numbers of children, somo fatally
and many less seriously injured.
All of the victims were between the ages
of and 15 years. The school contained
between '300 and 325 pupil, and of this
entire number only about 80 are known to
have left the building unhurt. It will be
several days before the enact number of
kilted is known, as the ruins may still
contain other bodies and tho list of fa
talities may be Increased by a number of
deaths among the children who are now
lying in the hospitals hovering between
life and death.
Fire Drill Led to Furnace.
The sehoolbouse was of brick, two
stories and an attic in height. The num
ber of pupils was more than normally
large and the smaller children had' been
placed In an attic of the building. There
was but one Are escape and that was in
the rear of the building. There were two
stairways, one leading to a door in front
and the other to a door in the rear. Both
of these doora opened Inward, and it is
said that the rear door was locked as
well.
When the flames were discovered the
teachers throughout seem to have acted
with courage and self-possession and to
have struggled heroically for the safety
of their pupils and marshaled the little
one into column for the "tire drill,"
which they often practiced. Unfortu
nately the line of march In this exercise
bad always led to the front door, and the
children had not been trained to seek any
other exit. The lire today oame from a
furnace situated directly under this part
of the building.
Packed In Heaps to Burn.
When the children reached the foot of
the stairs they found the flames close
upon them, and so swift a rnsh was
made for the door that in an instant a
tightly-packed mass of children was piled
up against it. From that second none of
those who wore upon any portion of the
first flight of stairs had a chance for
their lives. The children at the foot of
the stairs attempted to tight their way
back to the floor above, while those who
were coming down shoved them merci-le.-:sty
back into the flames. In an in
stant there was a frightful panic, with
AW of the pupils fighting for their lives.
Most of those who were killed died here.
The greater proportion of those who
escaped managed to turn back and
reached the fire-escape and the windows
in the rear.
What happened at the foot of that first
fi'ght of st&irs will never be known, for
all of those who were caught in the full
f jry of the panic were killed. After the
flames had died away, however, huge
heaps of little bodies, burned by the Are
and trampled Into things of horror, told
the talc as well as anybody need to
know tt
Doors Said to Be Locked.
Various and unconfirmed statements are
made as to the cause of the fire and
also that the doors of the building had
leen locked at the front entrance, while
but one door of the rear entrance was
unfastened. The janitor. Frits Hcrtcr.
himself bereaved of two children, says
the doora were open, according to cus
tom. At any rate Jhe congestion of flee
ing children in the hallway below effect
ually barred the way. and the little ones
went to their death, totally unable to
evade the flames.
"Within three hours after the start
of the fire it had burned itself out
and the work of recovering; the bodies
proceeded. The village fire depart
ment had only two engines, and
neither, upon arrival after the alarm
was given, was at all effective in
stemming the flames.
The school was a two-story and at
tic brick building constructed about
six years ago and had nine rooms. It
was overcrowded with pupils, and it
was found necessary to utilize thettic
for those of eges between six and
eight. Nearly all the children were
killed In the crush at the first-floor
door, which finally was opened by men
from the Lake Shore shops who hur
ried to the scene.
A wall of flame had formed across
the hall and most of the children were
dead by the time the doors were swung
open.
Janitor Sees His Child Die.
The Janitor could remember little of
what happened after the' fire started.
He said:
I was sweeping the basement.- when T
Senator RrdflHd Proctor, of Ver
mont, Who Died Yesterday.
lnokfc. up and mw a wisp of smoke curling-
out from beneath the front stairway.
I ran to the fire alarm and pulled the
Cong, that sounded throughout the build
ins;. Then I run flrat to the front and
then to the rear door. I cannot remember
what happened next, except that 1 &w the
flames shoot in all about and the little
children running down through them
vream.njr. .Some fell at the rear entrance
and others stumbled over them. I saw my
little Helen among them. I tried to pul!
her 't. but the flames drove me back
I had u leave .ny iiui .nild-to die. -
Mr. Herter himself was badly burned
about the head.
Teacher Dies With Her Flock.
Miss Catherine "Wheeler, one of the
nine teachers In the school, lost her
life In a vain effort to marshal the
pupils of her class and lead them to
safety. She died in the crush at the
rear door. Her room was on the sec
ond floor, and when the fire alarm
sounded she marched her pupils out
into the hall, thinking- it was only a
fire drill. There the truth dawned
upon both teacher and pupils, and con
trol was lost. The children. In their
frenzy plunged Into the struggling
mass ahead of them. Miss Wheeler at
tempted to stem the rush, but went
down under it, and her body was found
an hour later, piled high .with those
of her pupils. Miss -Fisk,-- another
teacher, was -taken out alive, but she
cannot live.
Burning through the cross supports -of
Concluded on Page 4.)
CONTENTS TODAY'S PAPER
The . Weather.
TESTER DAY'S Maximum temperature, 51
degrees; minimum temperature. 36 de
grees. TOOAVS Cloudy and ": threatening; winds
mostly northwest.
Foreign.
Fearing British and American intervention
Iseopotd compromises Congo dispute,
rage . - .
National.
Aklrich currency bill to pass with aid of
Cannon's whip. Page 1.
Heyburn denounces Aldrich bill.. Page 1.
Senator Proctor dies suddenly. Page 3.
Appeal to Roosevelt against bills to pre
vent stock gambling. Page
Politic.
Ohio Republican convention Indorses Tart
and Roosevelt and adopts progressiva
platform. Page 4.
Kansas Republicans Instruct for Taft.
Page 4.
Need ham refuses to run Bourne's third
term bureau. Page 4.
Domestic.
Nearly 'JOO children burned or crushed to
death in ftre at school ho use near Cleve
land. Page 1.
Alton children to exchange letters with
Med ford schools. Page 1.
Lumber rate case argued before Interstate
Commerce Commission. Page 1.
Girl strikes assassin's arm and saves
brother. Page l.
Jepuiy Attorney General of
trapped in act of extortion.
New York
Page 7.
Sport.
Bull Perrine to umpire in Coast League.
Page
pacific Const.
Tex is bribery case tarings out evidence of
Ruefs biggest graft scheme. rage 1.
Prosp-t of settlement of marine engineers
strike. Page 4-
Plague in Japan revives energy of San
Francisco in fighting it. Page
Real cause of wreck at Pendleton not as
certained. Page 6-
pfmoortti elect one councilman In Seattle.
Page .
Old Yamhill firmly opposed to Statement
No. I. Page 1.
Portland and Vicinity.
Vnpurifted gas escaping into mains causes
misery to gas consumers. Png 10.
Boiler in O. R. N. scrapyards explodes,
one man slightly hurt. Page 7.
Work to secure warships for Rose Show
week. Page 10.
Police make spectacular raid on Chinese
gambling den. Page 7.
O. R. 4 K. special farming demonstration
train will leave Pullman today. Page 14.
(om mere la I and Marine.
Fad outlook lor the cascara bark market.
Page 15.
Selling carries wheat prices down at
Chicago. Page 10.
Stock market without life. Page IS.
Gasoline schooner Berwick mits Intfr Coo I
Bay In distress. Page 14.
r - v
P i "" VI
I 'i f - - V
i X :
LUMBERMEN -PUT
CASE STRONGLY
Argument on Rates Be
fore Commission.
DISASTER TO COAST INDUSTRY
Railroads Kill Trade and
Southern States' Gain.
SQUEEZING OUT LAST CENT
Magnates .Tea Ions of Lumbermen's
Profits, Advance Rates on Their :
Product, . While Others Are
Left Untouched.
ORBGONIAN NEWS BUREAU, Wash
ington, March 4. Argument for the Pa
cific Coast lumbermen against the pro
posed advance In rates to Missouri River
territbry was heard today by the Inter
state Commerce Commission." It occu
pied the entire day and will be followed
tomorrow by the advocates of the rail
roads, who are here in force.
Case for Oregon Lumbermen.
The morning session was given up to
J. X. Teal, representing the Oregon lum
bermen. He declared that the testimony
taken last December showed that the
lumber rate had been advanced by the
Harrlman system, not because the old
rate was non-remunerative, as contended
by counsel in their brief, but because
Mr. Harrlman saw the lumbermen mak
ing large profits and determined to-get
a bigger share of their money. .Lumber,
he said, was paying a much higher rate
than some other freight, notably coal
and minerals, yet the rate of these com
modities had not been advanced. More
over, he said, the rate per ton per' mile
on Pacific Cbast lumber is two to three
times as great as the rate on Southern
lumber shipped Into comnetitive. terri-'
tory. Yet the Southern .railroads were
handling-this- freight at a profit. He
declared that lumber at the old rate was
the most profitable traffic handled by the
Harriman system. - ....
In conclusion Mr. Teal stated that the
rate on lumber had been advanced under
an agreement entered into by the defend
ant roads and that this agreement had
been neither denied nor disproved by the ,
witnesses or counsel for the railroads.
Unjust on Three Grounds.
W. A. Wimbish made a remarkably able
argument this afternoon on behalf of the
"Washington lumbermen. He attacked the
Increased lumber rate on three grounds,
any one of which, he contended, was am
ple to justify the Commission in holding
the increase to be unreasonable.
First, the increase was unfair because of
its effect on the public at large. It would
THIS CITIZEN HAS.T TIME TO REGISTER. BIT .' THIS ONE HAS. X
" "
- . . . . . . . . ....... ......... ........ . . . ..
drive Pacific Coast lumber out of the Mis
souri River territory, leaving the .prairie
country dependent solely upon the South
ern competitors, who could then boost
their price. It was also unfair to the Pa
cific Coast States." because it closed mills
and lumber camps and threw thousands
of men out of employment, many of- them
becoming public charges.
Secondly, he argued that the increase
was unjustified because It imposed a heav
ier rate" -than lumbermen could afford to
pay. With that rate in effect they must
curtail their output and confine them
selves to local trade..-
Should Make Advance General.
Thirdly, it was unreasonable, because
the condition of railroads is not such as
to Justify them In raising this rate. He
showed by their own reports that the Hill
and Harrlman roads are all operating at
a large profit. It was unjust, he said, to
single out this one class of freight to in
crease their earnings. If they were oper-
1 t
tin
Wflllam O'Connell BrmdleT. Falted i
Mates Senator-Elect of Kentucky. f
.................. ......
ating at a loss, they should make a gen
eral increase in rates. Lumber, being low
grade freight transported at little risk
and loaded, and unloaded at the expense
of the shipper and buyer, cannot be ex
pected to yield as large a profit as higher
grades of freight, which are carried at
much heavier risk.. . .
W. W. Cotton, of Portland, will present
the argument on behalf of the Harriman
roads; J. B. Kerr,, -of St. Paul, for the
Northern Pacific, and Hale Holden, for the
Great Northern and Burlington. . F. C.
Dillon may also speak on behalf of the
Harriman roads.
Delayed by Accident and Storm.
SAN iliANolMV'O- Aiarch.t An' anT
w-r to complaints aanlnst the- SViMVit
e'n Pacific by Thited States District
Attorney Devlin. -1ipon information fur
nished by the Interstate Commerce Com
mission, was made yesterday in a gen
eral denial filed, by the railroad's at
torneys. - The railway explained that ac
cidents caused some violations of the
law and that many delays were caused
by storms. The railroad also stated that
the shippers requested that the run be
extended to 36 hours when hauling- sheep
and cattle. The case has not been set for
trial, but will b heard during the April
session of the Federal grand jury in the
United States District Court.
Honduras Ratifies Peace Treaty.
TEGUCIGALPA. Honduras. March 4.
The Hondurean Congress today ratified
without changes the treaty as concluded
in Washington last year by the Central
American peace conference.
iwmmmmmx
i
I .':
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ALDRICH BILL IS
E
Better Than Nothing,
Say the Leaders.
BE DRIVEN THROUGH CONGRESS
Cannon Will. Whip All Oppo
nents Into Line.
DANGER IN ITS . TRAIN
Small Hope totf Asset Currency, but
. Probable Effort of Interests to
Use Xew Law to Prevent
. Xeeded Reforms.
By Walter Wellman to Chicago Record
Herald.
.WASHINGTON, March 4. (Spccial.)-
In . spite of opposition among Repub
licans of both houses, notwithstanding a
general feeling that it may be a mistake,
it Is pretty well settled that the Aldrich
bill, in some form, Is to pass both h )ises
In Congress and become law. It will pass
for no other reason than that "it is the
Aldrich bill or nothing," as I pointed out
some time ago.
This measure is now conceded by al
most everyone to be a makeshift, a stop
gap, a mere tub to a whale. President
Roosevelt has given his assent to it, and
promised to sign it. - But he has done 'so
reluctantly, and upon the sole ground
that "it is better than nothing." Here
he Is In line with the prevalent senti
ment in Congress. The Republicans feel
that they dare not go home without ha f
ing made at least a pretense of doing
something to help the country out. On
no other grounds could the Aldrich
scheme secure ' a majority ' of either
branch. ' r
Cannon Will Beat Amendments. '
Kit is tlie -Wdv1ch bill better than
nothing? Many are beginning to doiibt
it. The doubt 1s' so widespread that
serious efforts are to be made to amend
it in important particulars one In the
Senate and the other in the House. A
group of Republican Senators will try to
strike out the railroad bond feature aiV
if it fails In the Senate, this effort vIl
be renewed in the House.
In tho latter body .also, an effort will
be made to engraft some form of asset
currency upon the bill. It is doubtful if
this succeeds. Speaker Cannon and his
lieutenants are determined to drive the
bill through under whip and spur, and the
House of Representatives is no longer a
deliberative, a free body. It is ruled
by a coterie of three or four men and, in
the last analysis, by one man. Even if
there be enough revolt against the
Speaker to inject some form of asset cur-
THEIR ONLY HDP
rency into the measure at the House end.
it will not stay there. . The Senate w,.i
promptly knock it out.
" New Danger Will Follow.
The best opinion among public men
and students of the question is that
the Aldrich bill, as a law. will neither
do much .good nor much harm. Hence,
the great extent of the feeling.
"Oh, well; let it go at that. The
country will believe we have done
something of real value, and we can
pride ourselves on our achievement in
the coming campaign."
There .is a danger, however, ' and
therefore men are recognizing it. This
danger is th't. if the Aldrich plan be
comes law, and banks do take out 'cir
culation under it, and that circulation
remains unretired. the country will
soon be face to face with this propo
sition: "You must not do anything to inter
fere with this circulation based on
public and railroad bonds, because to
do so would be to squeeze out the arti
ficial value Injected into those securi
ties, and thus do a wrong to the inno
cent holders" , . i
Prevent Real Currency Reform.
One of the great problems of
T" i-
: t
Governor Andrew T. Hnrrla, of
Ohio, .Renominated by the Re
publican Convention.
Setting rfd of the present National
bank currency based on Government
bonds Is the equity of the owners of
those bonds in the more than one-fifth
of the value Imparted to them by their
use as a currency baso. This may not
be a very serious danger, but It ia a
danger; and in this way the Aldrich
bill may'ln the future become a stum
blingr-block in the way of the real and
permanent and scientific solution of the
problem, .which everyone believes is
coming: and which the country must
tsoon have, If disaster. is to be averted.
BRAVE GIRL SAVES BROTHER
DALZIE LOWTHIAX STKIKKS
, ARM OF ASSASSIN.
Deputy Marshal In Arizona Town
Gains' Timeu to 'Get Gun and '
.Wound Assailant.
GLOBE, Ariz., March, 4. Owing to
the bravery(4of " his'-sister,' Dalzie Low
thlan. Deputy :City. Marshal Dick
Lowthian .escaped death, at the . hands
of an assassin early this evening. : At
6 o'clock Jim Walters, recently released
from jail, where. he had been confined
for "gunplay," entered the. Marshal's
office, where Lowthian was writing on
a typewriter. , ,HIs .sister and another
young lady were present. W'alters had
a gun in his hand, and pointing it'at.
Lowthian, said: "I have got you now,
Dick." .
The officer's gun was on a table
about six feet away. As Lowthian
sprang to get it Walters fired, the
bullet hitting his right arm. Walters
fired again, but - Lowthian's.- -sister
struck his arm with an umbrella, the
bullet going into the desk.
Lowthian got his gun and fired five
times at Walter, three of the shots
taking effect. The first one struck
Walters' gun and passed through his
hand. Walters will probably die. He
had threatened to kill the ..City Mar
shal and other city officials, because
of his arrest last Summer.
DROPPED FROM THE ARMY
Lieutenant Miller Guilty or Dupli
cating Pay Accounts.
SAX FRANCISCO, March 4. Lieuten
ant Herbert G. Miller, Fourth Field Ar
tillery, United States Army, was dis
missed from the service by order of
the War Department, the order going
Into effect today. This order is the
outcome of a court-martial. before
whom Lieutenant Miller was ' sum
moned about a'month ago, charged
with duplicating his pay accounts.
The officer had tendered his resig
nation to the War Department eome
time ago. and It had been accepted, to
go Into effect January 31; but In the
meantime he was summoned on two
charges conduct unbecoming an offi
cer and a gentleman, and of duplicat
ing pay accounts. The trial at the
Presidio lasted but two days, the de
fendant - pleading guilty, with the
qualification that he had no intent to
defraud, and no witnesses were called.
The court found the defendant guilty
and ordered him dismissed from the
service, those findings being approved
at Washington and just made public
by the "War Department.
Miners Blamed for Fatal Blast.
GRAND JUNCTION. Colo.. March 4.
The charge Is made today that the ex
plosion at the Gilsonite Mine, at Dragon.
Utah, just across the Utah line on the
night of February 12," in which two
miners were . killed and damage' caused
amounting to $H0.00O, was the work of a
number of strikers. The miners killed
were Greeks.
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RIJEf PROMISED
BIG WATER GRAFT
Deal With Bay Cities
Company Is Out.
SUPERVISORS TELL STORIES
Attempt to Sell $1,000,000
Plant for $10,000,000.
BOARD WAS TO STAND IN
Tcvis Libel Suit Brings Out Evi
dence of Biggest- Deal of All,
Which Never Came to
Fruition.
SAX FRANCISCO, March 4. (.Spe
cial.) Sensational testimony was
given today in the criminal libel suit
instituted by William S. Tevls. tha
millionaire land, power and wa'terfffag
nate, against the Evening Bulletin.
The Bulletin charged that Tevls had
made a corrupt bargain with Abe' Ruef.
to sell to the city the Bay Cities water
plant, owned by Tevls, for $10,000,000.
This plant, the Bulletin charged, was
not worth - more than $1,000,000. The
sensational testimony was given by
Jennings J. Phillips and Andrew Wil- -son,
of the old boodllng Board of Su
pervisors. In his opening address, Hiram W.
Johnson, attorney for the Bulletin;
said:
Rucf Promised Big Graft.
"We shall show you that, in the
course of numerous secret meetings by
the Board of Supervisors, usually in
the Mayor's office, and held on Sunday
nights, Ruef had set to work cor
ruptly to further the venal plans of
"William S. Tevis, and to this end held
Interviews with James L. Gallagher,
Andrew M. Wilson and Jennings J.
Phillips, and other.' members of his
Boardof Supervisors, and told' each one
of them there would be large money
payments for Supervisors who would
vote and "stand in" for having the Bay
Cities water supply acquired by San
Francisco for $10,000,000. These ex
Supervlsors will appear upon the witness-stand
and tell you this themselves.
"We shall prove that thereafter
Rucf wrote all reports and resolutions
of the water committee of the Board
of Supervisors, and all the resolutions
of the Board as a whole, though, of
course, he 'was not a member of tho
Board."
His Promise to Phillips.
Ex-Supervisor Phillips was the first
witness called. Referring to one of
the numerous resolutions prepared by
Rucf, presented to the Bosrd and sub
sequently adopted. Phillips was asked
if Ruef ever made reference to the
subject. Phillips replied In the af
firmative. "What did he say?" asked Matthew
Sullivan, for the defense.
"That it was a good time to force
the matter that if we could put
through the Bay Cities water project
there would be considerable money In
it for us that it was the biggest thing
yet."
During the taking of testimony,
shortly after noon, 'Phillips said thai,
following the adoption of certain reso
lutions, Ruef caused them to be print
ed in a newspaper and 20,000 additional
copies ordered. The bill for this
amounted to $400, to collect which
Phillips called upon Ruef personally.
Had Xot "Come Through."
"When I went to Ruef to collect the
$100." said Phillips, "Ruef pulled open
a drawer in his desk and extracted a
plain envelope containing currency and
peeled off $250. I called his attcntior
to the fact that there was still a bal
ance of $150. and he replied:
" 'Well, they haven't come through
yet.' I protested, and he paid me Uif
balance."
During his testimony ex-Supervisoi
Wilson said:
"Ruef told me there was going to bt
something handsome in it for the Board
of Supervisors. He and I walked dowr
Fillmore street a few blocks and I was
introduced for the first time to William
S. Tevis, but no reference was made to
the Bay Cities deal and we separated
almost immediately."
This is the first public testimony giver
in reference to the Bay Cities water mat
ter. The case will proceed tomorrow. Ruef
is to be a witness.
Phillips admitted in answer, to Cook'F
question, objection to which by counsel
for the defense was overruled, that he
had been promised immunity for any
thing wrong that he had done as Super-
visor. -
Matthew Sullivan, of counsel for the
defendants, characterized It as "indecent"
for the District Attorney to treat the
witness In this manner by referring to
any immunity contract, if there was any
entered Into between the District Attor
ney's office and this witness. Mr. Cook
retorted that he was not here by choice
prosecuting this case. '
KCEF'S CLAIM TO IMMUX1TX
Says Promise Came From Burns and
Supervisors Made Terms.
SAN FRANCISCO. March 4. Abraham
Ruef today filed another affidavit la