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About The morning Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1899-1930 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 8, 1908)
V- AAA , vft aster i . .1 ir... putusHts run. AfftOCIAriO PRESS report 50VCRSTHt MORNING FIELD ONTHC LOWER COLUMBIA 33rd YEAR. 80. 288 v., ASTORIA, OREGON, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1S03 PCICE RYE CrrT3 SIS Hen Do Work Unmasked in Broad Day )Jght : MA(E AN EASY ESCAPE President Newhall and His Son are Helpless at the Point of Robbers Gun TAKE ALL CASH IN SIGHT Out Mn Keeps Ills Victims Cov red WU1 Companion Watches Outsids and Another Cnwli Thro TJleri Window For Booty. ,. . . PORTLAND. Dec. 7.-An east tide lord bank, located on East .Washington and Grand avenue wai held up and robbed at 6 o'clock to night by three nnmaiked men. It ii understood they secured about 16 500. The president of the bank, nnrjr II. NrwhaJI and hfi ion, Rog er Newhall, were Juit closing the day's business when two men armed with revolver! entered. President Newhall and hit ion were com manded to hold up their hands and while thus under cover of the robbers one man crawled through the teller's, window, passed out gold and cur rency and silver to his confederates and then crawled back into the foyer through the window. The three then made their escape before an alarm could be aounded. From the neat ness of the job and the expedious way in which the robbers made their escape the police surmise they must nave had other assistance or had cache somewhere in the vicinity ff the bank, Ai soon as the frightened bankers recovered their senses vt alarm was sounded. Newhall and hl ion started In pursuit, each armed with a revolver' and fired several hots , at the fleeing robbers, Both aides of the river is being patrolled by a corps of police and detectives but it will be no easy matter to ap prehend the criminals. The crime is perhaps the boldest ever committed in this cily and capya a series of murders for robbery and, general reign of terror which a gnng of yeggmen and hold-ups have created in . Portland for the past three month. President Newhall made the following statement to the Asso ciated Press: "We were just preparing to close tip for the night when the robbery occurred. The bookkeeper, Mr. Col- SENATE MOURNS ALLISON'S ABSENCE Pall of Sadness Over Assemblage as they Gather for Second Session of Sixtieth Congress WASHINGTON, Dec. 7. -There was S pall of sadnuess over the Sen ate when it convened for the second session of the 60th congress, due to the absence of the late Senator Alli son, of Iowa, who died In August, after service of more than 35 years in that body. The assemblage was a brilliant 'one, 82 members being pres ent, white the galleries were filled with representatives of the official and social life of the capital, The session lasted IS minutes and then adjourned in respect of the memory of Allison. After being in session for an hour, SECURED ton, had just gone out to post a let ter and my ion Roger and myself were completing details Incident to the closing of the bank when the unmasked man entered. He had a big automatic revolver In Ida band, and ordered us to hold up our hands and then commanded ui .o retire to my private office. We were In no position to make a defense and immediately complied. Almost in an instant another man entered and the GATHERII EVIDENCE DEFENSE OE SISTER BROTHER WILL AID DENVER WOMAN ON TRIAL FOR EXTORTION. FINDS OUT OTHER TROUBLE He Had Several Long Conferences With Houm Detectivea of Audi torium Annex Who Recovered Other Property. "" ' 7 CHICAGO, Dec. 7. After working secretly In Chicago for a week gath ering evidence to be used in the de fense of his iter. Mrs. Allen F, Read, the Denver woman who is ac cused of trying to extort money from Mrs. Genevieve Chandler Phipps, i wealthy society leader in the Colors do city by threats of dynamiting, and who obtained bonds worth $20,000 on a forged check froni Bnbcock, Rush ton, and Louderback of Chicago, W. C. Campbell, left the city last even ing for the West. Although Mr. Campbell arrived in the city last week, only a few persons with whom he did business knew of his presence in the city. Mr. Campbell had several long con fcrencei with Frank Repetta, the house detective of the Auditorium Annex, who recovered from Mrs. Read the bonds she secured from Babcock, Rushton and Louderback on a worthies check.- Mr. Campbell wanted to know every detail of his sister's visit in Chicago and all about the trouble she got In to here" said Mr. Repetto. From the questions he asked I gathered that he was looking up evidence to be used, in her defense. He would talk very little about it here, however" SEVERAL MEET DEATH. SHELBOURNE, N. S., Dec. 5. Sevcral men met death today off the southern coast off Nova Scotia Thursday morning when barge No. 101 of the Barrett Manufacturing Co., in tow of the tug John Hughes bound from Boston to Halifax with coal tar went down with all the crew. half the time consumed in the roll call of the house which met at noon adjourndd in respect of the memory of several of its members and of Senator Allison, all of whom died during recess. Speaker Cannon, Rep resentative Sherman of New York, and vice-president-elect, and Champ Clark of Missouri, the successor 'of John Sharp Williams, the minority leader, were given - ovations. The most important action was the pas sage and unanimous consent of the resolution authorizing t he commit tee on ways and means in its tariff (Continued on page 6) third one standing outside. The first man, protected by the revolver in the hands of his confederate, then crawl ed through the teller's window, al ways keeping us covered, and com menced to hand out coin and cur rency to his companion. The, third man then entered and between them they took away a bag of gold con taining $8000, a package of currency containing $5,300, mostly in large bills, and s lot of miscellaneous coins, In all shout -$16,500, I think. They had s receptacle of some kind to dump a portion of the loot into. "Having secured practicaly all the coin there was in aight, the robbers made s hurried exit. My ion Roger and myself, each securing a revolver and ran out after them. The robbers ran easterly in the darkness on Washington street toward the slough which lies in that vicinity. We each fired several -shots but owing to the darkne! we think we did not hit them. They did not return our fire and disappeared as if the earth swal lowed them. "From the time which the robbers selected for the crime I am of the opinion they, must have been watch ing us for some time and knew exact ly what time. the clerks went home and other conditions necessary to successfully complete the job. I have a fairly accurate description of one of the men. "The robbery will not affect the bank's stability in the least. We have ample money on hand to meet nil requirements.1 Up to s late hour tonight the police and detectives had secured no tangi ble clue to the identity of the rob bers nor their means of escape from the scene. A general accepted theory is that the men hal a buggy or per haps an automobile stationed at some point distant from the bask and es caped in it. IRISH -UNIVERSITY. DUBLIN. Dec. 5-The title for the new university which has been the subject of an acute controversy for some time, was settled yesterday to the satisfaction of all parties, when King Edward issued letters of patent constituting it as the Na tional University of Ireland. RUEF'S DEFENSE WEAK FOR THIRD TRIAL PROSECUTION HAS YESTER DAY AND ALL TODAY FOR ARGUMENT. IN THE FUREY BRIBERY Defense Presents Little or no Evi dence in Yesterday's Session f Court Assistant District Attorney Strong Argumen. SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 7.-The third trial of Ruef on the charge of bribery of Former Supervisor John J. Furey in connection with the trol ley franchise award is in the argu ment stage, defense presenting little or no evidence. The prosecution had this afternoon and Wednesday for ar gument and the defense all day to morrow according to the ruling of the court. Assistant District Attor-? ney Ogara, who entered the case when Heney was shot, was sad in in cluding his remark today, he said: "God forbid that any verdict that you might return should place Abra ham Ruef and his band of thieves again in control of this city, Show by your verdict that this city has as serted Its manhood and has relieved itself of the dishonor and disgrace he has brought upon it." SCHOOL FOR CHINESE. BERLIN, Dec. 5. The colonial budget includes an original appro priation of $150,000 to be followed by $32,000 annually for the erection and maintenance at Tsing Tao, in the Germany territory of Kiao Chau, China, of schools for the Chinese natives where instruction in techni cal matters will be given. IISOECOISELFOR HIS FELLOV-CITIZENS HON. P. T. TAYLOR HAS AN OTHER MESSAGE OF HON EST WARNING. "Astoria, Or.j Dee. 5, 1908. "Editor Astorian: "One MAY be stating a truth when he says that 'with the levy fixed at one-third of a mill about t7 cents a year is what a person whose prop erty is assessed at $500 will pay for the construction of the proposed sea wall." One is stating a truth when he states that '2 and 2 are 4,' but neither statement has any bearing on the seawall proposition ,as proposed in the pending amendment. However, I have my doubts about the truthful ness of the statement first quoted above, for the following reason: 'A levy of one-third of a mill on the present assessed valuation of the taxable property of the city ($3, 470,478.00) would produce the full sum of $1156.82, and that wouldn't pay the attorney fee of the commis sion's attorney, let alone building a seawall. Therefore, the statement should be revised to read 'with the levy fixed at one-third of a mill about 17 cents a year is what a per son whose . property is assessed at $500 will pay towards the salary of the attorney for the Seawall Commis sion. ' ; . , "The seawall amendment proposes a five mill levy, which would produce, if fully collected, $17,J.39, and the interest on $300,000 of bonds, at 5 per' cent, would amount, to $15,000, leaving $235259 to pay attorneys' fees and other expenses of the com mission. There is no provision in the bill whereby the principle debt can be paid off, and the person whose property is assessed at $500, as well as other taxpayers, can calculate on paying the full tax levy for the re mainder of their lives. "Then, too, it is proposed to con struct a wooden seawall, which, like the wooden streets, will soon decav. and a new seawall will have to be built. Then the $500 property owner will have to pay another tax which will last the remainder of his life. and so on ad infinitum. Query: how long will it take said property owner and his descendants to pay off the seawall debt under those circum stances? "In a recent communication to The Astorian, C. M. Foley made the statement that the city's indebted ness is about $800,000., This state ment is challenged in last evening's paper, and an attack is made unon the water commission. I , do not know who Mr. Foley is, nor where he got his information; but, unfor tunately, his statement is nearer the truth than is that of his critic. Here are the figures: Municipal bonds (auditor's report) $189,050.00 Street bonds (auditor's re-'-' " port) .. 4.968.22 Warrants (auditor's report) 122,464.63 School district bonds..... 87,000.00 School district bonds -. 75,000.00 School district warrants... 16,000.00 County indebtedness, $150,- 000, 40 per cent of which will fall upon the taxable property of the city 60,000 Total liabilities for which area of area of city is liable....... $779,482.85 It is useless to quibble 'and split hairs and say that all of the above is not technically city indebtedness. It is indebtedness for which the city will have to put up the last dollar. Because the city has some money in a fund to be applied to some other purpose it cannot be said that such money should be deducted from the indebtedness to show the exact lia bility, Nor can the assets of the city be properly deducted from the amount of the city's total liability for the purpose of determining the city's indebtedness. The city's as sets are not convertible into debt paying assets. As well might a man argue thus: I owe John Jones $500, hut I have a farm worth $1000; hence I don't owe John Jones anything. " "The partisans of one department charging another department with responsibility '"-ill not lessen the ! debt. The important thing to under stand is that the indebtedness exists, and that no additional burdens should be imposed upon the city un til its present difficulties are some what straightened. In order to pro vide sufficient educational facilities we will soon require additional school buildings, and to protect our present water system large sums will have to be expended. These we must have. A seawall we do not need, at present. It will add nothing to our revenues. It will do nothing for the public health that cannot be done by imply extending our, sewers. It will interfere with our sawmills and our canneries, and be a drawback to the construction of other factories along our waterfront, and it will saddle the city with a debt that this generation and their children's chil dren will not be able to get from under. "It is not pleasant to have to pa rade our misfortunes before the world, but it seems to be necessary in this instance, in order to avoid con tinuing a course of treatment which has produced those misfortunes. In curring further indebtedness to build seawalls would be like feeding a man who was sick from eating mince pie more mince pie to cure him. "FRANK J. TAYLOR." BUY HOUSE FOR HIM. NEW YORK, Dec. 7. If the Rev. Dr. Rob't MacArthur of the Calvary Baptist Church had his way, the cus itom of having Christmas trees would be abandoned. In his sermon yester day after a plea for early shopping to relieve the tired workers in depart ment stores, he said: How came hwe i to adopt this custom, which is one of the many,' taken" from the heathen. We are re-foresting many portions of our state and country. We ought to save the trees to prevent flood and give the proper amount, of shade. To do my share in the work, 1 have forbidden the purchase of ev ergreen trees in this church for the coming holidays." mm STARTED ey RAILROAD ASS! MANUFACTURERS WANT BUSI . NESS -EMPLOYEES WANT WORK, IS THE CRY. REPRESENT $500,000,000 Urges Legislators to Discourage All Measures Having Tendency to Continue Against Corporate In terests. NEW YORK, Dec. 7.-The Times in a news article today gives what purports to be the details of a cam paign started by the recently organ ized Railway Buhiness Association looking to the restoration of the pur chasing power of the railroads throughout the United States. The association, says the article, has al ready a membership representing an aggregate, capital of $500,000,000. Circulars are being sent broadcast throughout the country from head quarters of the association in New York quoting a resolution recently passed by the Illinois Manufacturing Association which declared that "all interests have suffered by loss of con fidence in- the security of invest ments," and urging legisaltors, state and national, to "discourage all meas ures having a tendency to continue or aggravate the agitation against cor porate interests and to support all legislation which, without injury to their own constituents will tend to allay the hostility toward business conducted under corporate form, in cluding manufacturing, commercial and transportation companies, while the new laws on the statute books ere-being carried out." The reason for the organization of the association as outlined is" that these manufacturers want business, the employees want work. Members of the association say that the man- MB!0 FOR III ASTORIA afacturing concerns which supply the railroads with equipment, the trades men from whom the employes of the 'manufacturing concern buy the nec essaries of life, and even the railroad employes themselves,' are suffering from the shutting off in part of that vast stream of money which amount ed to nearly $2,500,000,000 in 1907. The names of prominent manufac turers of equipment and supplies are given as organizers of the movement. lUHlECG LETTERS ARE UNSOLVED ARE SIGNED BY "THE KNIGHTS OF THE WHITE DEATH" AND MEAN BUSINESS WRAPPED ON COFFIN HANDLES Letters of Same Character and Pur port Have Been Received Before Signed in the Same Way by Other People. "' H ,..:! -".. CHICAGO, Dec. 7. The mystery of recent threatening letters signed "The Knights of the White Death" and wrapped around coffin handles and human bones ; which had lain long in the grave, has dove-tailed into ' another mystery of two months ago. It became known last flight that the target of two of the grisly missives is Dr. Adolph , Gchrmann, 3816 Ellis avenue,: who, in company with his father,' Theodore Gehrmann, shot and killed Louis Louterbach, an ex-convict,- while in the act of rob bing the Gehrmann house on Sep tember 28. The identity of Louterbach never was explained satisfactorily to the police, and it has been made many times more interesting a study on ac count of the fact that" one of the blackmailing letters to Dr. Gehrmann was written the day after the shoot ing of Louterbach and announced that the burglar was a member of "The Knights of the White Death." It threatened the physician and his father and mother with death unless j $500 was placed in the confessional box of St. Jarlath's Roman Catholic church, Jackson Boulevard and Hermitage avenue, at 11 o'clock Sunday inght, October 25th. It was followed by a similar threat dated October 11th and embellished with rough drawings of daggers and re volvers, similar to those found on letters by the same author addressed to the Rev. W. O. Waters of Grace Episcopal Church and Assistant Chief of Police Herman F. Schuet- tler. . .-',- .... . . WINDY CITY HAS BIG FUNERAL TRUST Too Many in the Business to Raise Prices so All of Them CHICAGO, Dec. 7.-That Chicago is at the mercy of a "funeral trust" is the allegation of P, J. Hursen, an embalmer, who in a "display" adver tisement in daily papers has been stir ring up his brother undertakers. He spoke in part: ' "There are so many undertakers in Chicago that many of them bury but 15 or 20 bodies a year. The result is that for a funeral which should cost $200, the undertakers invariably charge as high as $500. Caskets which should be sold at about $50 at a good profit they sell for $200 or $250. ALLEGED Fill TIDE I H J. Hendryx of Pcribnd Real Estate Crebr n VI CAPT. SUVA'S CHARGE Says Ha Was Viciimlzsd and Declares There are Many Others sells sa:,:e land twice Hendryx is Said to Have Gone to Captain Silva Last March Repre senting That he Was Promoting the Concern, PORTLAND, Dec 7 (Special to the Astorian) H. T. Hendryx, real estate broker ' and promoter, with offices in the Failing building, was arrested by the police today on a charge of embezzlement. The charge was brought through the district at torney's office by Captain V. M. C. Silva, agent of the Seattle Dock. Co. Captain Silva accuses the promoter, who is widely known,' of having prac ticed high finance in an unworthy manner. - 1 ' Hendryx denouncing his arrest as totally unwarranted, was ' taken into custody. Hendryx 1 was booked at the police station and gained his re lease through F, A. Spencer and F. S.' Standley, who qualified as bonds men for $500 each. ' "' Investment in Astoria tide ; lands was what brought, about the difficul ty. Captain Silva says he was vic timized only to the extent of $250, but that there are others." " ; " The" specific transaction, as related . to the officials, is that Hendryx went to Captain Silva last March repre senting that he was promoting a new concern to be known as the Colum bia Dock & Terminat Company. ' He said there was a chance to make $200 on an investment of $250, and secur ed that amount, issuing accept which Captain Silva now has as evidence. I Shortly after that Captain Silva happened to be talking with M. F. Brady, who occupies the same office with, him in the chamber of com merce. During this conversation it developed, the two men say, that both had put up money for exactly the same piece of land, a parcel of 33 acres, shown on a blueprint map as being most desirable. ' Captain Silva demanded the money a number of times, and failing to receive it or . (Cor.::r-- d e page 6) Can Live "When death comes the relatives in the stress of preparation and grief have neither time nor inclination to look into values. They call the near est undertaker. They select as an expression of their love the finest casket within their means. At great personal sacrifice they pay $200, say, for a casket that should cost but $50 or : Marlow M. Goodale, president of the Chicago Undertakers'. ':; Associa tion, declares that the charges ma.ie by Mr. Hursen are not based upon fact. ffl