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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (March 2, 1910)
4 THE DAILY JOURNAL IS rvjocEtiTsncoPY ' Sunday Journal 5 cents; or IS cenu week, for Daily, and Sunday Jour. , nal, by -carrier, delivered.. , The. weather Occasional fain to- , . ' , night and Thursday. ' ". : ' ' ' JOURNAL CinCUlATIOi'l , , YESTERDAY . WAS i v: von VIII. NO. 310, PORTLAND, OREGON, ' WEDNESDAY,; .EVEJNING, MARCH . 2, 1910. EIGHTEEN PAGES.: notpw - Ttirn . rwMTe . . ow thaws wo irrwi r.V. vV vu1t. Tltt) HV. C.J.MTS J. J. Bill ACQUIS CONTROL Of OREGON ELECTRIC RmumRmMmSRISmCB-OFSSENGERS AND CREVJS CANNOT COMMUNICATE WITH OUTSIDE WORLD IN WEHTZEL BRINGS DETAILS OF THE DISASTER Was Asleep in Hotel When, With a Roar, the Avalanche Descended on the Narrow Canyon. HILL GAINS ENTRANCE TO VILLAMETTE VALLEY Oregon Electric Road Said to Have Pass ed Into the Control of the Great North ern Magnate. Invasion of Southern Pacific Reserve Is Imminent Spokane, Msroh Qrsat Xorthern officials say , 60 persons probably lost their Ues at Wellington. James J. .Hill Is said to have gained TUHMTtU. ,: control of the Oregon Electric road, , i WTO., u Th, significance of the move can may have been lost: James McNeny, attorney, Marlon building, residence: 1106 Twenty-third avenue, Seattle. A. G. M abler, real estate dealer, resi dence 820 East Forty-fifth street. Be attle. R. H. Bethel, contractor and civil en glneer, residence southeast corner Ninth Well informed local financiers are sat- scarcely be exaggerated; for it is fraught with consequences of vast Im portance to Portland and to western Oregon. While local officials of the Oregon Electric deny any( knowledge of the reported sale, it Is admitted that they are not in a position to know the facts. avenue and Jefferson street,' Seattle, Mrs. M. A. Covington. Of CHympla, mother of L. J. Covington of the Wash ington children's home, Seattle. Isfled that the deal has been mads and that Hill is now fully prepared to In vade the Willamette valley as an open and active competitor of the Harriman George F. Davis, motormah, Seattle, system. Ren ton A Southern railway, 3229 Ameri-1 Nor is the purchase of the Oregon cus avenue, Seattle. I Electric the only Important . strategic Charles 8. Eltlnge, treasurer Pacific I move recently made by Hill. It is an Coast Pipe company, residence 4515 I open secret that when the United Rail Fourteenth avenue, northwest Seattle. I ways was sold a few months ago, the Hiram Fowler, mall clerk, Seattle. actual purchasers were eastern men ln- Fred Bonn, mall clerk. .8eatfl I innately associated with. Hill. Lemmon. Attorney: Seattle,. . 1 ' By this deal; Hill aeaulred the con G. L.-Beck, "wife and - children, rest-1 pectlng Jink. fcetwaen-hla terminal woik aence norTnenrvasnington, on way. to erty in the north end and the very caurorma. - heart of the west side business sec Mrs. Starrett, three children, mother I tion. Moreover the United Railways and father, Vancouver, B. C. connect with the, present terminus of J. p, Pettltt, conductor of train, ?3v. the Oregon Electric at Jefferson street, erett. R. P. Oiehl, 'baggage man. Spokane. H. Johjison, stockman, Trinidad. Colo, . I. Cohen, Everett . . Identified Id, TRAINM48TER A..R. BLACKBURN E. R-' lX)NGCOT, secretary to Sup- nintenaent ONetu. LEWIS WALTER8, Everett Known Xnjnretf. Ftreman j. T. Kurdle, fatally. Mall Clerk M. B. Herscll. Porter A. Smith. Porter L. Anderson. Br&keman Ross. Assistant Trainmaster W. Herrlngtpn. engineer usoorne of Seattle. - Engineer F. S. Martin of Everett Engineer Carroll. Engineer Jarnlgan. Fireman Dan C. Oilman. Fireman S. A. Bates. Fireman Fred Nelson.. ( Engineer D. Tegtmier. ' Conductor M. O. White of Everett Fireman Mauk. . Clerks on Main Train. John D. Fox, married, Spokane: R. C. Bogart, single, Spokane; George Hos ier, married, ther4fiy opening the way for direct in- vaslofi of the Willamette valley. Ever since the advent of the North Bank road it has been predicted freely by railroad men that Hill would not rest content with the exploitation of central and eastern Oregon, but would ultimately make a datermined fight for the still more attractive territory lying west of the mountains. Control of Electrlo Lines. Speculation naturally turned to the question whether Hill would not find in the Oregon Electric the most natural means of access to this portion of the state. . And this is precisely what has happened. ' . The Oregon Electric now has lines in operation to Salem and Forest Grove, with valuable rights of way to many other points of Importance in the Wll lamette valley. Albany, Corvallla, Dal las and McMInnvllle are among the ob Jective points to which the surveys have been made, and rumor has credited the company with plans for extensions still further south. , . . .- " The intimate"fsJalons between the Hill interests and . the present owners jiLlhe . Crater LAke . road, running.. eat from Medford, are well known, and it is auite on the cards that the Oregon Electric, under Hill tnanagement maV eventually reach the Rogue River valley. The Oregon Electric is a standard gauge road of very substantial con struction. Moffa'tt & White of New (Continued on Page Seven.) TRAINS BLOCKED BETWEEN IE TRAVEL HOW r UNCERTAIN WM m OF STRUGGLE TO REACH ERETT John S. Rogers, With Nine 0th ers From Stalled Train, Has an Exciting Experience in Reaching Home. AVALANCHE DESTROYED BUNKH0USE, 2 DEAD Immense Snow Caps Threat ened Lives of Passengers and Train Crew. Centering all its' forces on its Wash ington division, the O. R. & N. is -doing us utmost to open its line between Wal lula and Spokane, but under the most favorable conditions it will probably h 1-11 n a h,fAM H n MmmiintMHAn married, Spokane John C. Tucker, can be established with Spokane by way led.' Spokane? Alfred B. Hensel, &f that route. In the meantime O. R. A ' " -"--. iiibmj.iim. trams to ana from Spokane are S'T f: ower, oeatue; rrea routed of the S. P. A 8. tracks north jooan, Dovwo. of Pasco, . .-, 8DeiaI tlDatcB to Tbs Journal t lrhi. i d . A- DTOMJt'( " ""- oreaiu-iarivins- nersonal attention to th work less, exnanstea witn D18 eight hour of getting the line in shape for traf- Btruegle against the 'blindina? hlfs, The greatest trouble on the Wash- rards that have ewept the Cascades "t0"dj m , V - ...t v t-v tit l , I ,--- ...... .-u.- lwr mo Va.Bi,, uiuuiu, juuu vveniaie i ers the tracks at a number of points, of Wellington staggered into Sky komlsh bringing the first, new? of the avalanche which Tuesday morn ing swept away two trainloads of Palouse Siver Eaging. The Palouse river at Colfax is a rag ing torrent and til the town- bridges have been swept out and lodged against the O. R. ft N. bridge, making. It un- buman Deings ana part or the little safe. This trouble delays repairs to town. 4 ' bridges in Hay canyon, shutting off ma- Wentzel gasped out his story in t6rlaI the pile drivers. . . ' 0't i,i, - Touchet river is very high and is broken sentences. Spent with the ,tn, rt8ln(r. . Tne water n H8ay canyon effort of his flight from the scene remains high and the current is too of the accident, Jie was unable to strong for effective work in replacing viva anv nnnwted ofli.iit jif tha wrecseq pripges. Jt. xeiegram ' rrom J- - ,rhlf RB Bf T)ni tragedy until several hours later, Nothing But Snow. ' "All wiped out," he moaned, after he had been; revived, t "Nothing but a smooth bed of snow to show where tracks, trains and passengers were " swept into the 200 foot gulch. No body can tell how' many were killed. Thousands of. tons of snow and ice and dfrt and rock choke the narrow canyon and it will be days before the wreckage and corpses can be re- moved." K . f - Asleep in Hotel. . ' Wentzel was asleep In W. It. Bal let's hotel at Wellington when , the disaster occurred Monday morning. . "I was a,wakened by a terrific roar and rumble. My bed trembled vio lently and I jumped out in my stock ing feet and ran to the door. Fly ing snow and debris filled the room and I was temporarily blinded. , "Huge Black Mass s t . "I carry a contused' remembrance of ! a - huge black mass, crashing 'at awful speed down the mountainside. The hotel-in which I slept escaped, destruction; by a, bare b!x feet. -That 1 roaring hell of dirt and rock and de . ' (Continued on Page Two.) . Chief Engineer Boschke to Generaf Man ager O'Brien's office this morning states he expects to have the Washington di vision open next Friday unless some thing unforeseen happens. On the Oregon division trains are running between this city and Hunting ton, but between- here and Umatilla all the creeks are full and roadbed Is very soft This necessitates extreme caution in operation and all trains are behind schedule. Oregon Short Ha Trouble. The Oregon Short Line has more or less trouble, so that service between Portland and the east over the Harri man system Is very Indefinite. Southern Pacific, lines, between here and Ashland are open, but trains are being run under strict caution orders, the tracks being soft from the heavy rains. . t The S. P. & S. line was tled.up for a couple of hours this morning by a small slide in the vicinity of White Salmon. Aside from that this line has had no trouble. Trains are operated with caution, however, because of soft tracks. The Northern Pacific was delayed a while today by a small slide a short distance beyond Vancouver. . The local Great Northern offices re ceived word this morning that the line is open from Everett to Skykomlsh. EVEREW AWAITS DREAD HEWS Everett, Wash., March 2. Suspense! : " ' This is the only : terse word that expresses the situation relative to, the smashing of two trains by almighty avalanche' near Welling ton, yesterday. At noon today the Great Northern officials were as much at sea for news from the. scene of the disaster as were the rel atives and friends of-those whose dramatic life secret is enveloped in the miles upon miles' of : snow covered mountains -of the Cascades. Relief parties were sent out last night from this 'city and from points farther up the line. Wires are down, tracks are obliterated and the "great .white silence" is more impressively silent than ever. Not less than 100 men are striving to reach the canyon where the two Great Northern trains were struck- from their narrqw shelf in the ' mountain side to destruction, 600 feet below. - The rescue C parties are well equipped with Bnowshoes, and it is -hoped that the . medical men among, them will be able to -surmount the difficulties that con front them and reach Wellington where many injured are nndoubt gdly in need of assistance , . , v-- Wellington is a small railroad station at the .other si A e of the Cascade tunnel and- half way between- this place and Wenatchee. Tliere are few persons living there and it is surmised that t.he little (house or two that constituted the hamlet have been swept away and those who have survived the disaster" must be" suffering from the ex treme cold and lack of food. Ten. Qf the party thfft started for Scenic, 10 rnlles distant,- arrived safely;1 One of these was a John S. Rogers, who' escaped injury after having been carried several .hundred feet' dn the -great snowsllde. '. , ' - i (United Prraa Lmm4 Wlra.l Everett, Wash., Maron 9. This Is the story of John 8. Sogers, a real estate man, who, with niss others, straggled through the snow from the stalled train t Wellington Monday and made his way onti "I had been to Soap Lake I left Just a week ago, on the Great Northern. By the time we reached the mountains the train had about 70. passengers aboard. '. ' At about o'clock Wednesday morn Ing we were stopped atthe east portal of the Cascade tunnel.,. We stayed there until Friday- getting our meals,, two day, at a bunkhouse. On Friday night we left the east portal, and a few hours later an ava: lanohe wiped out the station and bunk house, killing two men. 'We pulled through the tunnel as far aa Welling ton, about half a mile beyond the west portal. O'Jrsirs Car Overwhelmed. At Wellington there are three tracks. On the track nearest the mountainside stood Superintendent O Nell s private car, two box cars, the engine and three of the electric motors that are used to haul trains through the tunnel. On these cars were the ' superintendent. train crews and porters. On the second track from the mountainside stood my train, consisting of engine, baggage car, two coaches, two sleepers and an ob servation car. On the third track stood the fast mall train, on which were IS or IS mail clerks. ..About IS track lab orers were also sleeping on the train In the day coaches. "We all ate at Ballet's hotel in Well ington and while food was plentiful, fuel was not, so the train was not run back Into the tunnel. . i "Years ago the railroad climbed over the mountain on a switchback. Sunday we noticed on top of this, switchback, far above us, an enormous cap of snow hanging precariously on the side, and clinging to the sparse timber. The same aay I saw a slide coming down the east side of the hotel, carrying timber with it In a great avalanche of snow. That night there was a slide at the east portal that filled a 50 foot gulch We began- to fear, for the safety the train. "The menace of that Immense snow cap was a pall on our spirits. It was the most enormous accumulation snow ever known in the mountains, ac cording to fthe hotel keeper. During all this time it snowed continuously, with terrific winds driving the drifts.1 Monday noon the party of 10 started out for Scenlo and after an all day battle with the snow, reached Sky komlsh and safety that night. In the party with Rogers were E. A. Sperber, R. McNlght and Samuel Field, Vancou ver, B. C; Charles Yohn, Portland Frank Rltter, South Be'lllngham; Aug ust Van Larken, Seattle; Oulseppl Din- atalo, Portland; H. L. Werts, Hlllyard and E. W. Bowles, Vancouver, B. C Rogers' story Is -the most accurate description yet obtained of the situation in Wellington when the slide came. It makes it evident that Spokane local No. 25, fast mall No. 26, an exclusive mail train, and the superintendent's car were all swept into the canyon, a thou sand feet below. SERIOUS FLOODS THREATENED BY MFITIfJG SNOW PEPOON IS MISTEO FOR WIFE iWM Upper Columbia and Snake Rivers Rise Rapidly, Causing Alarm Along Lower Stretches Crest Not Yet Reached. LOWER WILLAMETTE WILL REACH 17.5 FEET Above Salern Only the Santiam River Responds to Spring Freshet. Flcod conditions are prevalent. In the Willamette river below Salem although above that point there is no flood ex cept in the Santiam river. The upper Columbia and Snake 'rivers are rising rapidly, due largely to the melting of snow In the foothills. All of the tributaries of the lower Willamette are above the flood stage, and pouring "their waters Into the Ut ter at a rapid rat. The .Willamette t Portland stood " this morning at 'a stag of 1&. feet and the prediction is ma.4t ,,m! reach a staga of 17. feet by Friday, - . District Forecaster Beals Said this morning that the peculiar feature of the present flood is that it has no crest and for. that reason it is hard to pre dict Just what it will do. The rislna- or tne coiumDia river win check the fiow of the water out 'of the Wiliamott. and with the rapid Influx of water from the flooded tributaries, it will run out slowly. his advice to persons who have property which will be damaged by the water at a stage of less than 7.6 feet la to move. In the last twenty-four hours the Snake . river at Welser rose 3 feet reaching a stage of 14.1' feet which is phenomenally high fon this season of the year. At Umatilla the Columbia river rose .7 of a foot to a stage of .3 feet above low water, and at Lewis- ton , made a leap of 6.8 feet In the twer.ty-four hours up to 8 o'clock this morning, reaching a stage of 'Jl.l feet. The rise Is caused almost exclusively by melting snow. At Estacada the Clackamas river was t a stage of 14.6 feet this morning at o'clock ana is now at a stand, no rise having taken place In the last 12 hours. Another river which also came to a tand was the Yamhill river which stopped rising at McMInnvllle at a stage of 28 feet. The Tualatin river Is still coming up Taken Into Custody on Warrant Issued Through Efforts Made by Woman to Determine Cause of Daughter V Death Now Seek Ray Wilcox. Cause Arrest of Wlloox. 4 Mrs. D. W. Wolcott of 111 East. Forty-seventh street. Portland, Or., and Mrs. Earl Pugh of East Forty-sixth and Belmont streets, 4 brought about the arrest of Pe- poon and started the search for Wilcox after an investigation which they personally conducted and which covered a period of five months. . Mrs. Wolcott is the mother of Mrs. Edith Pepoon, who died In convulsions at a lonely cabin six. miles from Northport Wash., August 28, 1S09.' Mrs. Pugh is the sister. They were helped In the Investigation by Morton ros- , 4 san, an aged homesteader, at 4 whose cabin the woman' died. " Mrs. Wolcott is now in North- port (Special DtDtch to The JournI.) Northport, Wash., March 2. George L. Pepoon, former theological student and lecturer," was arrested here yes terday on a warrant issued by Prosecut ing Attorner H. C. Klrkpatrlck of Stev. ens county He Is held' on suspicion of I (Continued on Page Fourteen.) CITY GETS PART OF THE INCOME OF ONLY ONE CORPORATION murdering his first wife, Mrs, Edith Pepoon, August 29, 1809, who Is be lieved to have died from tha effects of strychnine poisoning. . He was put In the county Jail at Cblville, ,; Wash., today. , . , Pepoon was arrested on A warrant Another has been Issued for . Ray Wil cox, paroled convict against whom the same charge rests. Wilcox has not been-arrested. Tits whereabouts is, not known. He broke .his parole- two days, after the woman's death. v. , " The warrant has been, held 14 days awaiting the result of the examination of Mrs. Pepoon's remains by Dr. Ralph Matson of Portland, to whom they were shipped. jBut so strong was the senti ment oC the. residents of Northport that the prosecuting attorney decided to cause the arrest of Pepoon. Excite ment, is at a High' pitch,. ' Pepoon has not made, a statement. Mrs. D. W.' Wolcott- mother of the desd woman, is making every effort to make it possible for the Boys' and Girls Aid society to get charge of the young est child of the Pepoons. The two elder children are wards of the Mult nomah county Juvenile court butt Pe poon; has th custody, of the baby.' 4 The Home Telephone company 4 4 this morning .filed its annual re- 4 tiort for 1909 with the city audi- 4 4 tor and enclosed )n a letter to . 4 4 that official a check for $2700, 4 4 representing 1 per- cent of , the 4 4 gross income of the . corporation 4 4 for one year. , 4 4 , By the terms of the corpora-, 4 4 tion's' franchise it is required to - 4 4 pay 1 per cent of Its yearly gross 4 4 earnings here, in compensation 4 4 for the privilege or aoing dusi- 4 ness in I'oruana. 4 "If some of the other corpora- 4 4 tlons that operate in Portland 4 4 were required to pay a similar 4 4 sum it would be a nice thing for 4 4 the city treasury," said City Au- 4 4 ditor A. L. Barbur this morning. 4 4 "It Is too bad that those coun- 4 4 cllmen who gave other corpora- 4 4 tlons long franchises. In the past 4 4 did not have the foresight to 4 4 base the compensation therefor 4 4 on the amount of business to be! 4 4 done by the companies." 4 4 ARREST OF PEPOON - PLEASES SISTER OF - ; -MURDERED WOMAN of of SPOKANE FLOOD 1 - IS ALARMING Spokane, March 9. Anxious wires, husbands and friends pack newspapers, railway ana telegraph offices awaiting news from tha catastrophe. ' rioods aUjtost surround Spokane on three sides today, and bridges are rapidly going oat, residences are flood ed and maoh household furniture is rained. In both the east and wast sides of the elty, residents are fleeing from their homes . for uptown and the hills 4 the south side of the town. - Small buildings are afloat oa ths east side and the water Is rushing in raging tor rents through the west side resident district The worst flood la ysarg. . ' III ' j i J l George L. Pepoon, held at Northport, Wash., while Investigation is made concerning the death of his wife. ' -; , Mr. Earl Pugh. of East Forty-sixth and Belmont streets,, a slater of the dead womanl whose remains have been shipped -from; Northporfc Wash., to Portland, for analysis, was told today of the arrest; of George L. Pepoon, and of the-action of Prosecuting Attorney H. C; Klrkpatrlck- of Stevena :countr "in swearing out"; a .warrant for th ! of Ray i Wilcox,'; the convict, who Is charged f with complicity-: . 1 know everything will , turn out right' now,"-she said. "I am greatly re lieved. My mother and I . have been working to this end for five months." ' Was Theological Student. . George L. Pepoon, a former theolog ical student is charged with the mur der of his wife, Mrs. Edith Peooon. She died at the cabin of Morton Cross an, an - aged ' homesteader, six -miles from Northport Wash., on the after noon of August 29, . 1909. Conditions under which she . died ' indicated death followed the administration of strych nine. . ......-... Three weeks before her death Mrs. Pepoon' Insured her life in favor of her husband for 11000. In the Women ' of Woodcraft. -, She- was then living with her husband, their three children. May Jones,-a .servant, and Morton Crossan, in the homesteader s . cabin. Her. hus band Had settled upon a, nearby tract of government land. ' Three days after - the woman took out the life Instrranc policy the hus band employed Ray. Wilcox, a convict paroled from the walla Walla (Wash ington) state penitentiary, as a . farm hand. . Wilcox had been working for Maude Keller, who married Pepoon two or three mohths after the death of his first wife. Her reputation was assail able. Wilcox was graduated a pharma- , cist before he was seht to the peni tentiary for attempting to commit grand larceny." . --, - Mrs. Pepoon Taken 111. Several days before her death Mrs. Pepoon was taken ill. She wrote to her mother, Mrs. D. W. Wolcott of lit East Forty-seventh street, Portland. that her stomach seemed affected. After her death bottles, the labels on which Indicated they naa contained morphine and laudanum, were rouna. Not the servant, May jones, uui in - convict, was charged witn tne car or the woman. Witnesses to the -violent death of the woman were Crossan, May Jones, Pe- poon, WUeox and Mrs. David M. Downs. , a nihbor. They testify, all of them, that the woman suffered three convul sions, the last of which was followed or . rigor mortis. Strychnine, administered to a human being, naa ine same eirncis. No phyBielan was called to examine the body. ., - - , Crossan and Mrs. Downs aver that IS minutes before the first convulsion, Mrs. Pepoon was Induced by her husband and Wilcox to drink a glassful of dark col ored liquid which- they offered her. Aft erward she was given a raw egg. ... Wlloox BBcajs:f;;,:;,H.ft;; WHcox escaped the day before ths woman's funeral, breaking his, parole. Although he was entitled under the law to receive only Its a month and his food and lodging from his employer, be cashed a check which was drawn to hit order by Pepoon for 1100, ' A reward of 150 has been offered for hu capture by - the prison authorities. When crossan ana Mrs. woiroit sna her-other daughter, Mrsj Pugh. bsri investigating the-death they found tiii.r. a vial of strychnine which' had bn pur chased to kill gophers had dlsapn-nrt Crossan affirmed that only he "Vl I' poon knew where It had beeit h.M'!-n. Later the rotue was touna in me causi. It was empty. - 1 , For five- months "Mrs. TVnWrr an, Cnniliiueit Vn r.is T. X 1