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About The morning Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1899-1930 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 1909)
34 th YEAR. NO. 18. ASTORIA, OREGON, THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 1803 PRICE FIVE CENTS S3 lUflll ICHiGAd Explosion of Powder Vault .Starts Fire 46 STILL MISSING 0! the 85 Employed In the Workings Only 39 Were Rescued SCHOOLS ARE ; DISMISSED Wb News of Um Disaster Became ""Known Hundreds of Wives and Children Anxiously Await Return lof Tugi For Nwa of Loved Onet CHICAGO. Jin. 20.-AI least S3 workmen are dead a a remit of a fire tbtt bad iti origin today in a power vault ittAched to the Immediate crib in Lake Michigan used In the construc tion of l water tunnel connection with the south side of the city at 73rd street. Ninety-five workmen were employed In the crib and in the con netting tunnel at the time of the fire. Hospitals of the south side are filled with the Injured. Tugs of the con struction company are making fre quent trips to the scene of the disas ter through the heavy ice floes. Owing to the difficulty small craft experienced In reaching the crib dur ing the winter a majority of the workmen were employed on the work and particularly those without faml lies slept in temporary structures at the crib. Just before these had been awakened for the day's work, the ex plosion occurred. So far as is known the explosion had its origin in a small powder house about 100 yards from the crib structure proper, but part of the general structure built on founda tions resting proper, resting on the bottom of the lake. In this building George W. Jackson Co., contractors, had stored enough powder and dynamite for future use in wig vuiiiiubuuii vi me wiiicr iuii- nel. In some manner the powder and dynamite exploded. It was not until the heat of the flames and stifling smoke penetrated the so-called "Liv ing room," of the crib and tunnel be neath the waters of the lake that the full import of the disaster dawned upon the little colony cut off almost completely from assistances One of the workmen made his way through the smoke to a little enclosure In TO PUSH WORK ON THE SEATTLE FAIR Senate Will Pass a Bill Warrants so as to OLYMPIA, Jan. 20.-Wcslcy L. Jones was ' formally declared elected as United States Senator in joint ses sion of, the legislature today. . Jones sent a telegram thanking for the hon or and a joint resolution was passed directing the president and speaker to wire congratulations, ,To prevent de lays in the work on the Washington buildings at the Seattle Fair, the sen ate will tomorrow pass a bill to in crease the rate of interest of warrants drawn on the ground which is secured by the state shore lands and guarantee Interest out of the general fund. . The bill is designed to make the warrants PERISH III HE WATER CRIB which telephone communication had been established with the store sta tion. A drowsy attendant at this sta tion received this message: "The crib is on fire. For Cod's sake send help at once or we will be burned alive. The tug-." At this point the communication ceased and through the fog an occa sional burst of amok and unmistak able odor of smoke made itself known to the watchera on the shore that a tragedy was probably being enacted i mile and a half out on the lake. The tug Conway was anchored a short distance of the imperrilled crib and this was early placed in service in the work of rescue. The Ice made it im posible for the tug to reach the im prisoned men, lot small boats were placed) in service to carry the injured to the tug and the rescue of those who had plunged Into the take. After several hours, 39 workmen were rescued. When the fire tug had succeeded in quenching the flames 53 bodies had been carried ashore. The first section of the tunnel starts from shore. The crib, a mile and a half out, marked the beginning of the second section being built still further j into the lake. The two sections had not been joined as yet Until such time as the rescuers are able to enter the water tunnel it will not be known how many persons perished below the surface of the lake. Air pressure was kept in this portion of the works, but as the air generating plant became disabled soon after the fire started, it is probable that those in the tunnel taunt h ptri.hcd. The south side was transformed into a series of hos pitals for the care of the injured. Private homes were thrown open but the need of physicians and nurses was small after the tugs made two or three trips to shore. Not a shred of clothing was found on the bodies of the, workmen who perished in the flames. When news of the disaster spread, the public schools were dis missed and weeping wives with their children huddleding about, watching anxiously for the return trips of the struggling craft with their cargoes of injured and dead. According to the records of the construction company 46 men are missing. The police have already started an investigation with a view to placing the responsibility for the disaster and Coroner Hoffman is empanelling the jury. DANGEROUS TRIP. Three Chicago Merchants Have Ex traordinary Experience Down South. CHICAGO, Jan.20.-Three promi nent Chicago business men, J. W, Thorne, J. W. Hall, and W. M Town send, have just returned from a trip down the Mississippi river, which al most cost them their lives. While thirty five miles south of Vicksburg at lunch, Hall detected the odor of Increasing Interest on Avoid Delay in Work more attractive to investors, a fair commission having so far been able to dispose of only $60,000 out of the $400,00) warrants. A bill was intro duced in the house today providing for the equal suffrage amendment and one providing for an eight-hour law for women engaged in laundries, hotel? and restaurants. In the Senate a bill was introduced creating the shorcland improvement fund from proceeds from the sale of Lake Washington shorelands and appro priating $250,000 therefrom from the construction of a canal connecting the lake with the Sound, gaoline, Thome, who was in charge of the engine went back to iniptct. He struck a match and there was sudden whiff of flames, he says.whlch knocked him over the side of the boat. The flumes shot clear to the bow, setting their clothes on fire. Hall and Townsend leaped into the water. ' ;' " " .. While the men were struggling In the river there was a loud report and the entire launch went up In the air. 'I was half strangled," said Hall. "I could not swim and was struggl ing fiercely to keep above the water. Thorne finally grabbed me, pulled my mouth above the water, and drag ged me until we reached the short. We heard Towmend calling for aid and we waded into the water and pulled him ashore." The men had landed on Urslna island, which is low and marshy and sixteen miles long. Townsend set off and finally found a hut. "When I knocked at the door," he said, "a man with a gun in his hand, poked hi head from the window and asked me what I wanted. I told him the story. He laughed and said: 'I know you are from the prison. There is no one else on this inland. Git, and do it quick!" "I got.". The wrecked men eventually reach ed the prison stockade when they narrowly escaped being shot but were finally admitted and taken care of. ' ' Finn bill Her WITH OPPOSITION SENATOR FRAZIER OBJECTS TO RE-INLISTMENT OF THE SOLDIERS OF THE 25TH. WASHINGTON, Jan. 20.-The Brownsville aflali.was taken before the senate today. Senator Frazier speaking in opposition to any meas ure for the re-enlistment of the dis charged soldiers of the 25th. He in sisted that the guilt of some of the men of the regiments had been estab llshed beyond a doubt although the individuals who had committed the crime had not been determined. For aker announced he would move next Monday to take up his bill to re-instate the soldiers unless an agreement on the time to vote was made sooner. The legislative executive and judicial appropriation bills were under consid eration today. MAY UNSEAT HARPER LOS ANGELES, Jan. 20.-Two hundred and fifty prominent citizens of Los Angeles, at a meeting today at the instance of the municipal league voted to prepare and circulate peti tions demanding for the election for the recall from office of Mayor Harper. PROCEEDINGS SLOW. SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 20.-A single talesman ran the gauntlet of inquiry in the Calhoun case today and 11 others were either challenged or excused. The proceedings were al most monotonous and there was not a single clash between the opposing attorneys. , WHISTLE THEIR WIVES. CH I CAGO, Jan.20. Engineers on ihe Pennsylvania line have come to the concliu-.on that the residents of Brooklyn, and Park Manor are uncs- thcttc. The people of these suburbs have entered an objection because the , engineers living there "Whistle their wives" as they pass through in the niftht. v ' The engineers say they have only been following a little traditional sentiment. It iias been the custom of eng-'neers, night or day to pull a long and loving whistle that the wife may know her husband has piloted his train safely home. The objectors say the noise makes the nitit hideous. PRESIDENT FEELS LESSfJUIED . UV6r Japai16S6 yiieSllOn in California CUriUnbaO nkUbVcUifries and Johnson was made by John Anti-Japanese Legislation Caus ed Apprehension in Washington ROOSEVELT GIVES VIEWS President in Response to Gillett States That Nothing Haa Absorbed His Attention as Has the Immigra tion Question. WASHINGTON, Jan. 20. -While such assurances as have come fronv representatives from Pacific Coast men regarding the improbability of any legislation in California adverse to the ; Japanese have undoubtedly done much to relieve apprehension that exists in administration circles, it is a fact that the . deepest concern exsts as to the future. Nothing that has happened recently In congress or elsewhere bas so absorbed the atten tion of the president and Secretary Root as threatened the anti-Japanese legislation in California. It is impossible for the president in his response to Governor Gillett, to tell of the influences that guide him in making his unprecedented protest against such action by California's legislature. They are factors which for diplomatic reasons could not be mentioned in a letter which was sure to be published but which are known to members of the Senate and house committees on foreign affairs and which doubtless influenced conerva tive Pacific Coast men in Congress in deprecating such action as was pro posed. . M.J.G0RD0N ARRESTED FOR EOBEZZLEMEHT FORMER JUDGE OF WASHING TON SUPREME COURT HELD ON SERIOUS CHARGE. TACOMA, Jan. 20.-M. J. Gordon, former judge of the state supreme court and until recently general west ern counsel for the Great Northern Railway was tonight placed under ar rest by a deputy sheriff from Spokane upon a telegraphic bench warrant charging embezzlement.. BANK ROBBERS SENTENCED KLAMATH FALLS, Or., Jan. 20. Jack Hall and Roy Pricver, who yesterday pleaded guilty to robbing the Klamath County Bank, were to day sentenced to the penitentiary. Hall got a ten years' sentence and Priever five years. OFFERED A FORTUNE. SAN FRANCISCO,Jan.20.-James J. Jeffries, the retired heavyweig.it champjo-i, who is filling a theatrical engagement here has received an of fer of $!00t00 for 33 weeks of spar ring exhibitions on an eastern vaude ville circuit. The offer was made by Sam Wheeler the fight promoter of St. Louis. Jeffries 'still refuses to arim't that Ih has any intentions of .attempting to wrest the champion fhip from Jack Johnson, but t'm be lief i growing stronger each day that he will be seen in the ring. Although a trifle fat the retired champion shows all speed that made Mm tin wonder of the heavy weisrbt division during his active fighting days, and his sparring part !nr partner, Sam Berger, is authority f" the statement that the big fight ers blows l ave not lost their steam. $75,000 OFFERED FOR MATCH. WASHINGTON, Jan. 20-An offer L. Sullivan according to a statement by the former champion of America. He said he represented a number of men who are willing -ts put the money up. . SUBMITS ESTIMATES FOR LIGHTHOUSES SECRETARY STRAUS ASKS $150, 000 FOR LIGHT VESSEL FOR OREGON COAST. WASHINGTON, Jan. 20. -For lighthouse establishment throughout the United States, Secretary Straus today submitted to congress estimates amounting to $406,600. He asked among other things for $150,000 for a first class steam light vessel to mark Orford reef, Oregon, and $41,600 for six light and fog signals, in Fuget Sound. . . PIONEER FOUND DEAD. . LOS ANGELES, Jan.20. Captain A. C Harmon, 84 years old, a pioneer miner i as found dead' in his cabin in Plaicrila canyon, five miles east of Newhall, by a party of hunters yes terday. The body was rigid, death having occured long before the find. Caftan Harmon formerly was mas tcr of a failing vessel. He owned his ship and in 1849 sailed around the Horn and anchored off the Cali fornia coast titer a stormy voyage. He disposed of his vessel and went to the goldfields.. He has been a min er since 1S50 and was well hnown to old time prospectors. He is survived by two fisters, who live in New York. WAS A FORMER M. P. Dead. Irishman. At .Rawhide .Was Once Very Prominent. RAWHIDE, Nev., Jan.20.-Inves-ligation into the affairs of Thomas H. Niblork, the broker, who commit ted suicide shows that his real name was Thomas H. Prooban of the well known family of that name of West Downs, iroland. He served in the Commons from West Downs and in the zenith of his career eloped with a celcW'td Irish beauty. Four years later he left her in Paris and went to New York. The day he left, his companion was killed in a train wreck and a man crushed beyond recogni tion in the wrecked passenger train was buried as Prooban by the members of his family. Proo ban read of the affair but maintained silence and allowed his family to con tinue in the belief that he was a vic tim f the wreck. He came to Ne vada and won and lost a fortune be fore lie committed suicide in a fit of despondency. IN DEADLOCK. SPRINGFIELD, Ills., Jan. 20.- Joint session of the house and senate on the election of United! States sena tor was adjourned today in deadlock after five ballots were taken." ROOT DECLARED ELECTED. ALBANY, Jan. 20 The state legis lature in joint session today formally declared Elihu Root elected to the cilice of United States senator to suc- ceed Senator Piatt. Kill LOSES (111 PlfEUFi IIEill'lO FORMING JURY. NASHVILLE, Jan. 20.-In the case of Colonel Cooper and son being tried' for the killing of the late Senator Car mack but two jurors had been secured up ot a late hour this afternoon. DENIES STORY. LONDON, Jan. 20-Duke D'Abruz- zi left today for Turin. The Italian embassy denied the story that the Duke intends to renounce title in or der to marry Miss Eikins. PROHIBITION BILL PASSED. NASHVILLE, Jan. 20.-The Sen ate refused to sustain the governor's veto of the Holladay prohibition bill today. The passage of the bill caused a wild demonstration. FOUR KILLED; 10 INJURED. NEWARK, N. J., Jan. 20.-Four were killed and 10 injured in a powder mill explosion at Lake Hopatong to day. . AHEAD OF SCHEDULE. ..LOS .ANGELES, Jan.20. J.. A. Krohn, of Newburyport, Mass., fa miliarly known as "Colonial Jack" arrived ir Los Angeles last night. He is walking around the borders of the country. He put in more than forty miles jctlerday in spite of a irai'-.td ankle. Ie left home Jut 1. 'If he completes his journey in 400 days he will win a wager of $1000. He rushes a sixty pound wheelbar row,' which contains his wearing ap parel. . He has worn out six pairs of shoes and two suits of clothes. He is 29 days ahead of his schedule. He is headed for San Francisco. APPROPRIATIOri BILL BE- FORE MOOSE FOira AMENDMENTS TO THE MEASURE ARE OFFERED BY REPRESENTATIVES WASHINGTON, Jan. 20.-After adopting without opposition a resolu tion by which Governor Lilley of Con necticut ceases to be a member of Congress, the house today proceeded with the naval appropriation bill. Four amendments were offered to the measure. Representative Foss, chairman of the naval affairs commit tee, had charge of the bill on the floor; and Tawny, Fitzgerald, Gaines, Ma con and others, spoke. Representa tive Mann occupied the chair during the consideration of the bill which will probably have the attention of the house on Friday. INTRODUCE BILL TO KILL STATEMENT 1 0. That Anyone Circulating Referendum Shall he SALEM, Or., Jan. 20. That any one who is hired to circulate a peti tion on initiative and referendum shall be guilty of misdemeanor, as well as a man who hired him is the penalty car-1 ried in one of the measures introduced in the legislature today. In line with the same measure is one making it a misdemeanor to make a pledge while a candidate for the legislature. Should these acts become laws, they would seriously impair the effect of the di rect primary law, A bill is now under consideration which prohibits a wom an from using a hatpin more than ten 1,100 Feet of 0. R. & fi. Roadbed Swept Away RESULT OF BIG RAINS Big New Dock at Megler Also Badly Damaged by the Storm 7 LINE IS BADLY CRIPPLED Traffic on the Ilwaco Lino is Sus pended Perhaps For Weeks Bciore the Necessary Repairs Can be Made, PORTLAND, Jan. 20.-Reports of heavy damage to roadbed, bridges, trestles and other property of the Harriman lines in the Northwest are being received today. The most ser ious mishap as the result of the down pour of rains and high winds is the destruction of 1100 feet or nearly a quarter of a miles of the roadbed on the new extension of the Ilwaco line. The heavy winds and high tides which have prevailed off the coast, working together, swept this long stretch of track into the sea, and it will probab ly take weeks before the storm's ha voc can be repaired. Rails, ties and all were carried away completely. Traffic on this line, while not heavy at this time of the year, will be wholly paralyzed until temporary tracks can be laid. The actual loss to property here will run into the thousands. The big dock at Meglers, also new, was badly damaged by the storm, the tide having beaten down and carried away . . . . t e :i : t:t. - long sircitucs ui puuig wuita uiiui i the building, the boat landing and its approach. For a considerable distance west of Meglers the tracks have been washed away. It is further reported that there are a number of smaller washouts on the Ilwaco line, which will necessitate practically rebuilding of the portions weakened or carried away. '; i CODE OF "ETHICS", CHICAGO, Jan. 20.- A code of ethics which will bring closer toge ther the medical and pharmaceutical professions and results in the better ment of public service has been de termined upon by the Chicago Medi cal Soiiety and the Chicago Retail druggists and a committee from both organizations will formulate a gen eral code of action. - Petition on Initiative Guilty of misdemeanor or inches long. Other bills introduced are for the creation of state fixe mar shal; creation of insurance depart ment; for the establishment of normal Schools in Portland; a bill prepared by the conservation commission propos ing a water code; providing for a chil dren's playground in Portland and for tax necessary to establish it. There is befcre the Senate memorial to have the state capital moved to Portland. At a joint session of the two houses today, George E, Chamberlain was declared elected United States Sena tor. No vote was cast.