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About Corvallis gazette. (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 6, 1905)
ATTEMPT A BREAK Seven Convicts at Folsom Make n u f i !I 1 " THREE ARE KILLED BY GUARDS Four Are Fatally Wounded and One Slightly Two Guards Hurt by Bullets of Comrades. Folsom, Cal., Dec. 31. A break that was clever in plan and bold in execu tion took place at the penitentiary here this afternoon. The guards obeyed the standing orders of the warden to shoot regardless of the danger to free men, and as a result seven of nine convicts, who had planned to get away, were almost riddled with bullets, three being now dead and three in a critical condition. The break was similar in general plan to that of last July, but the fact that . it was made within the range of the guns of seven reliable guards, all -dead shots, and one of those within 50 feet, makes it more bold and desperate. . The convicts who engaged in the break were all employed on the rock crusher, where 325 of the most desper ate prisoners were at work. Captain Murphy was acting as general overseer about the rock crusher,, and four other attaches, L. Daley, M. Hogan, Charles Taylor and Charles Jolly, were employ ed as "pushers" to keep the men at work. '' A large sledge hammer was thrown into the crusher, causing the ponderous machinery to come to a standstill. This attractedjCaptain Murphy, Charles Jolly and Taylor to the place immedi ately. Thereupon the desperate con victs rushed to seize Murphy, Jolly and Taylor. They succeeded only in catch ing the two first mentioned. During this time the scene of trouble was under cover, and the guards on the outside could not see the struggling men, al though they soon had an intimation that something was wrong. Five of the gang surrounded Captain Murphy and two others had Jolly The con victs had knives in position for imme- liat execution, should the guards at' tempt to free themselves. The convicts were very bold as they approached Guard Harris, who stood ready to act according to the standing orders to shoot regardless of consequences. When within 40 feet of the outside i guards, one of the convicts gave the command: "Hand out your gun, or we will stab Murphy to the heart. Instead of handing out his rifle, Har ris sent a bullet into the fellow's body, and he fell to the ground. In quick succession Harris fired at each of the remaining convicts, who were trying to shield themselves behind Murphy and Jolly. . In the meantime bullets from other posts were flying thickly about, many of them striking the convicts.. Captain Murpny was strucK by one of them, a slight wound being inflicted in the leg, and Jolly was struck in the neck, the bullet coming out through the cheek and inicting a very serious wound, though probably not a critical one. Two of the convicts, named Campbell and Ford, intended joining the others, but their courage failed them when the shooting began. Santa Claus to World. New York, Jan. 2. The United States played Santa Claus to the world, according to reports secured from the' money order division of the New York postoffice. From December 1 to De cember 24, the night before Christmas, no less, than 334,084 international money orders were forwarded to other lands from this city, and these orders called for $4,667,692.. The remittances were the largest in the history of the postoffice. . The figures show an unus vial distribution, too. Moors Commit Outrage. New York, Jaan. 2. In a garden a British subject, only one mile from Tangier, a bold murder has been com mitted by Moorish robbers, according to the Herald correspondent of Tangier The Moors entered the garden and car Tied away four cows belonging to the British owner, after murdering a Span iard working on the place. One of the robbers was severely wounded by the wife of the Spaniard. It is rumored from Tetuan that the garrison there has deserted and fled from the town Two months' pay was due them. Storm Destroys Jetty. Astoria, Or., Dec. 31. Five thousand leet of jetty superstructure was carried away in an 80-mile-an-hour gale off ; the mouth of the river yesterday morn mg, leaving only 500 feet of the outer end remaining. To Tepair this work together with the nortion that was carried away by previous storms, will take several months, so that it is un likely that there will be any extension of the jetty until late next summer, at all during the' coming year. . Tried to Reach Vladivostok. Shanghai,' Jan. 2. According to pri ate advices from Sasebo received here today Commander Pelem, of the Bus sian torpedo boat destroyer 'Rastoropny and another officer of that vessel have been identified among those on board the captured British steamer Nigretia BILL BY ELKINS. Its Object Is Regulation of Railroad Freight Rates. Washington, Dec. 31. Senator S. B. Elkins, of West Virginia, chairman of the senate committee on interstate commerce, is busily engaged in fram ing a bill for the purpose of carrying out the views of the president in rela tion to the abolition of freight rebates. The senator, in. discussing the subject today, said among other things : "There should be some power in this country to declare what rates should be on the railroads. - The United States supreme court has decided that the fix ing of a railroad rate is a legislative and not a judicial power. So we can not depend upon the interstate com merce commission to fix these rates, and, in fact, no commission or other court can be depended on for that im portant function. What we can do is to empower a court to declare when a rate is excessive and in that way send the rate back to the railroad to be low ered. I do not think we need fear that the roads will attempt to evade the ex ecution of such instruction in good faith, by attempting to come baek again with another rate, slightly low ered, so as to result in no benefit. We can depend upon public opinion as a power to force them to accept this method of regulating the rates m good faith. If the lower rate they fix is not low enough, it can again be declared to be too high and would go back to them. . "For several reasons I think the . in terstate commerce commission is not the proper tribunal for the fixing of rates by this method. It should be done in a circuit court of the United States, and that court should be , pre sided over by a justice of high char acter, who ought to receive a salary of $10,000, $12,000 or $15,000 a year. Such a judge would, of course, be ap pointed for life, and would be m a po sition to fix these rates. He could . de vote his entire thought to the questions that would come to his attention. "Just think what might happen if these powers were placed in the hands, of a commission, the members subject to reappointment by the president, with limited terms. Such a proposal would not meet the approval of the conservative men." CHOATE COMING HOME. To Resign as Ambassador to England After the Inauguration. Jjonaon, uec. 3J. Wnile numerous statements have been published here that Ambassador Choate is about to retire from diplomatic circles, it can be stated that Mr. Choate has not sent his resignation or any communica tion on the subjcet to President Roose velt or the State department, nor has he received any inquiry either from the president or Secretary Hay concern ing his future plans. It can be safely asserted, however, that it is Mr. Cho- ate' s intention to tender his. resigna tion soon 'after the inauguration of President Roosevelt. - "Six years is a long time slice out of the life of a man of my age," said Mr. Choate, recently, to friends here, "and while I have enjoyed the life and peo ple I have met in England, I have de termined to go home and devote the re mainder of my time to looking after my own affairs." Dredges Stop Work. , Portland, Dec. 31. All but two of the river dredges operated by the Unit ed Estates engineers m the Columbia river and its tributaries are laid up for lack of funds with which to carry on operations. The W. S. Ladd, on the lower river, will probably continue in operation for a month yet and then will quit for the same reason. ; The dredge Willowa, on the Snake, is also still in operation, but the Columbia dipper dredges, No. 1 and No. 2, and the snag boat are all out of commission, as the engineers have not sufficient funds with which to operate. Mail Service in Bad Shape. Chicago, Dec. 31. As a result of storm conditions, trains on nearly every railroad entering Chicago were one to four hours behind schedule today. Great difficulty was experienced by railroad officials on securing tele graphic reports of the movements of trains. Wires were down in many places. Points in the northwestern states could be reached cnly by circuit ous routes. . The mail service of the entire middle west is in bad condition Transfer connections with a number of outbound trains were missed. " x Neutrality of Dutch Ports. The Hague, Dec. 31. In connection with rumors of a possible infringement of the neutrality of ports in the Dutch East Indies, it is officially pqinted out that the neutrality of Sabang- and other ports will be maintained. Two Dutch battleships, two cruisers and five small er warships sre now in - those - waters, while twq additional vessels are ready at Nieuwe-Diep, Holland, to reinforce them if necessary. Snow Is Ten Feet Ieeo. La Crosse, Wis., Dec! 31, A drop in the temperature of : 40 degrees fol lowed the blizzard which ceased at midnight. Snow is drifted to - the height of eight - and ten feet in the streets, and a large gang of men are en gaged in shoveling snow from the street railway tracks, so traffic can be re sumed. J BEFORE GRAND JURY Senator Mitchell and Represent ative Hermann Appear. WERE CALLED BY GOVERNMENT Congressmen Were Not Informed Be fore They Entered Jury Room of Testimony Against Them. Portland, Dec. 29. The Federal grand jury listened to the testimony of Senator Mitchell all of yesterday morn ing and for a part of the afternoon. The rest of the time was taken up by Representative Hermann, who was in the jury room when the session was ad journed for the day. He will resume his examination this morning and will in all probability finish by noon. In spite of the fact that both Senator Mitchell and Mr. Hermann had an nounced that they would not appear before the jury unless the names of the government witnesses and the charges to be made against them were shown prior to their entrance to the jury room, both congressmen were ready to answer the call of the government at torneys when it came. ( Senator Mitchell went into the room at 10 o'clock in the morning and re mained until noon. ; The senator is much chagrined at the notoriety he is receiving as the result of the land fraud investigations and does not take kindly to any of those who are conducting the case. Before entering the room in the morning he was silent and distant. He emerged at noon tired and showing the strain which the ordeal had ap parently been to him. Upon the. con clusion of his testimony in the after noon he left the building for his hotel. The afternoon with the jurors might have been a session of congrses, how ever, tor all tne enect it had upon Mr Hermann. He appeared shortlv afteirt 2 o'clock in the afternoon and went in to seclusion in the inner office of the district attorney, after he had greeted a few acquaintances in the outer office and the hall. When called to the jury room shortly before 3 o clock he shook hands with those whom he knew in the corridor and patted Mr. Heney heart ily on the back as he entered the door When the session had closed for the afternoon, Mr. Hermann remained in the jury room for some time conversing with Mr. Heney and the jurors, among whom he found several whom he had known in various parts of N the state. These he gave cordial handshakes. PRESIDENT TO GIVE HIS VIEW No Railroad Administration Measure . To Be Sent to Congress. Washington, Dec. 30. President Roosevelt embraced the opportunity to day to take up with the members of the cabinet many questions - of detail in departmental administration, the semi-weekly meeting of the cabinet being longer than usual. At the con clusion of the meeting the members of the cabinet said in response to inqui ries that little business of serious im portance was considered. . After other members of the cabinet had left the executive offices, Attorney General Moody discussed with the pres ident some phases of the railroad freight questions. Both the president and the. attorney general recently have devoted much time to that problem The iatter is giving particular , atten tion to the legal side of the question, so that- he may be prepared to advise with the president on the subject and with such members of congress as may wish to consult him. It is understood not to be the intention of the presi dent and attorney general to prepare and press the consideration in 'congress of an "administration measure," deal ing with the railroad freight problem Such a bill, it is thought, (to quote a member of the cabinet), would be destined to defeat. Burning Their Cotton. Fort Gaines, Ga, Dec. 30. The farmers and merchants of this county met today at Fort Gaines and . decided to burn their share of 2,000,000 bales of surplus cotton A smarter was made today when a bonfire was made on the streets.. It is not yet determined where it will stop. The farmers have decid ed to set the pace, and are moving de terminedly. A large crowd paraded with much spectacular ceremony. The object is to show that the farmers are ready to sacrifice a few bales for the benefit of the masses. Panic in Jute Mills. New York,Dec.30. Engineer Charles J. Hebe was instantly killed, his, as sistant, Daniel Ferer, probably fatally injured, and the lives of hundreds of young women endangered today, when the cylinder head of the great power engine in the Chelsea jute mills in Brojklym blew out. The noise of the explosion threw into a panic the 1,200 young women at work in the building. Many of them were badly bruised and hurt in their efforts to escape. Big Dock for the Navy. Washington, Dec. 30. The bureau of-yards and- docks, Navy department, today awarded the contract for the completion of the drydock at the Mare island navy yard to the Schofield com pany, of. Philadelphia. The amount of the contractus $1,385,000, and the drydock is to be completed in 33 months. This drydock jrill be the largest in the United States navy. VESSELS IN VERY BAD SHAPE Russ Says They Would Not Be Able to Reach the East. St. Petersburg, Dec. 29. In an out spoken article, in reply to a recent letter of Admiral Bierileff , which ap pealed to Russians not to criticise the condition of the navy openly, the Buss today declares the time is past for si lence, in view of the fact that the "old system of concealing facts is responsi ble for the loss of 150,000,000 roubles' worth of warships and has covered us with shame and grief. It would be absurd to hide the defects that can still be repaired in the ships which remain at Cronstadt and Libau. We have al ready criminally wasted enough time." The Russ enumerates the defects in the ships still in Russian waters, aver ring that the" "peculiarities of structure of several of the- vessels destined for the Far East make the voyage danger ous, and the torpedo boats are in such shocking condition that it is a matter of surprise that the authorities accepted their delivery. Torpedo boats intend ed to reinforce Vice Admiral Roiest- vensky must clearly not be dispatched with the numerous defects which have been proved to exist in them. HiVen u Admiral isoiestvensuy is a clever leader and his 12,000 comrades areieroic sailors, everyone knows that we have, imposed upon them an almost superhuman task in consequence of our not being furnished with a true account of the gravity of the events which have occurred since the fatal night of Feb ruary o. WILL TRY SEVEN. Federal. Grand Jury Files New Indict ments in Land Case. Portland, Dec. 29. The Federal grand jury .made its second public ap pearance yesterday afteronon, at which time it returned indictments against Salmon B, Ormsby, of Salem; William H. Davis, of Albany; Clark E.Loomis, of Eugene; Henry A. Young, George Sorenson, of Portland; John Doe and Richard Roe. The charge is that the indicted men entered into a conspiracy on December 29, 1901, having as their object the defrauding- of the govern ment ot tne united States out ot a por tion of its public lands in township- 11 south, of range 7 east, and that by means of false and forged affidavits and proofs of homestead entry and settle ment, some in the names of real and some in the names of fictitious persons tne government was induced to issue patents to the lands. It is charged that m furtherance of the conspiracy William H. Davis wore to an affidavit before S. B. Ormsby in which he said that he had resided upon the claim taken by him as by law re quired, and it is also alleged that the conspiracy was a part of the one entered into by S. A. D. Puter, Horace G. Mc Kinley, D. W. Tarpley and Emma L. Watson. IN FOG AND ICE. Great Storm Rages from Rocky Moun tains to Atlantic. Chicago, Dec. 29. One of the sever est storms of recent years has raged throughout the territory lying between the Bocky mountains and the Great lakes since early this morning, and has caused much trouble to street car com panies, railroads and telegraph com panies. - The latter were the greatest sufferers from the blizzard, which swept through the West and Northwest during the last 24 hours, and which was preceded by a heavy fog and driz zling rain, which made the wires almost unworkable. , s. ' The intense cold and terriffic gale that followed close upon the fog coated the wires with ice, and later in the day threw poles to the ground, crippling the companies badly. Railroad trains were., badly delayed all through the west, some of them being 24 hours late. Street-car traffic in all the cities of the West and Northwest was practically at a standstill at some time during the day. In its extent the storm was the most widespread of any during the last 15 years. Counting the fog as a com ponent part of the storm, it stretched from the Rocky mountains to New York, and from Winnipeg to New Or leans". - ' Will Make Lots of Money. - -Portland, Dec. 29. It was decided yesterday that the offer from the gov ernment to install two eoin machines in the government building at the fair will be accepted,, though" the cost of operation will fall on the management of the exposition. The machines will be run by electricity and an .expert will i be sent from Washington to take charge, i All the workings of a large mint will I be shown in this exhibit, and the meth- i ods of making coins displayed. It is ! expected to be one of the chief attrac tions of the government buliding. . Porter Is To Retire. New York, Dec. 29. The Herald will say tomorrow : It has been defi nitely decided that General Horace Porter, of New York, shall retire as ambassador to France and he will have his resignation in the hands of Presi dent Roosevelt before his inauguration. This announcement was received by the Republican state leaders.; "General Por ter's successor to Paris will be George Von L. Meyer, the present ambassador to Italy. Hurry Work on Black Sea Fleet Sevastopol, Dec. 29. The dockyard laborers have been released from their obligation as members of the reserves in order that they may continue the work on the vessels of the Black sea fleet, which is being pushed with great energy. . . The Bust Child. I have so many things to do, don't know when I shall be through- ' To-day I had to watch the rain Come sliding down the window pane. And I was humming all the time, Around my head a kind of rhyme. . And blowing softly on the glass To see the dimness come and pass. . made a picture with my breath, Rubbed out to show the underneath. I built a city on the floor; And then I went and was a War. And I escaped from square to square That's greenest on the carpet there. Until at last I came to Us; But it was very dangerous. Because if I had stepped outside. made believe I should have died! And now I have the boat to mend, And all our supper to pretend. I am so busy every day, I haven't any time to play. Pittsburg Press. studded Upon V little. docN , UncAea- Job "torn ; see $ O- sy. he encd I'd like To 1 Wnow dogr- tell me please All Have Their Toys. There isn't a place in the world where the children have no toys. Even in Australia among the degraded and animal-like bushmen, the children have toy fire sticks which they rub to pro duce flame. In the Polynesian islands the baby savages have toy blow guns. Eskimo land is a perfect Santa Claus land of Ivory and bone toys, many of which are made to move, so. that the little Eskimos have dogs harnessed to sleds and little seals and whales and canoes which are so carved that the tiny man in them bobs back and forth as if he were paddling, and will even throw a harpoon. nut all savage cnlldren try to copy new things. Now, in the very heart of Africa, travelers find the little negroes playing with pieces Of wood that they have carved Into imitation of the rifles that they have seen the white men carry. They even stick a ball of cot ton in the muzle end to imitate the smoke. -. The Siamese Twin Puzzle. Here is a lot of fun which some of our younger readers have perhaps never tried on their friends. Look at the picture, and see if you can find out a way for the two boys to get apart. Two small girls who were tied together in this -manner rode home in a street car together, slept all night over it and did not guess the riddle BTBTJGGLING TO GET AS ABT. until after breakfast the next morn ing. The antics which they cut up In trying to get apart furnished fun not only for themselves, but for a whole room full of people. To -maKe it. reaiiy exciting, a num ber" of couples should be set, going at once and a prize1 offered to the pair who first get apart Such a wriggling and twisting Into all sorts of absurd positions as this will result in could hardly be equaled by a nest of boacon- strictors. And the problem Is, after all, quite r LITTLE STORIES AND INCIDENTS That W10 Interest and Entertain Young Readers. easy of solution. The center of one of the handkerchiefs has only to be slipped under the loop made by the other handkerchief where it Is tied about the wrist, and the loop thus made carried over the hand. Tie two of your friends together in this way and follow the directions given. You will soon catch the idea of how to quickly separate them. , Children of the Wilds. Captain Jermann, of Rio De Janeiro, who recently returned from, a journey into the rubber districts of east Bo livia, almost in the heart of Central America, visited a town in the very interior, so far from civilization that It required a horseback ride of three days to get to it. There he found two schools for boys and one for the girls of the place, but only one teacher, who was an old half-breed. - But," says Captain Jermann, "the children were just as good and well behaved as if they were enjoying the best educational chances In the world. They were as polite as the most cul tured people In the outside world, and were eager to show me attentions, without, however, pressing them upon me. They never entered a house, not even a shop, without knocking at the door or the side and obtaining permis sion to come in. -After this permis sion was given they always took off their shoes, which they left outside." He Had a Coincidence. "Johnny," said the teacher, "can you tell me what a coincidence is?" "Yes, ma'am," answered Johnny. We've got- one at our house." "Well, what is it?" asked, the teach er. "Twins," was the prompt reply. , Teeth that Would Not Ache. 'What shall I get you for your birth day?" asked a father of his 5-year-old daughter, who was suffering from toothache "I'd like some teeth like mamma's. so I can take 'em out when they ache," replied the observing miss. A. Grass Widow. Little Margie Mamma, the lady up stairs is a widow, isnit she? Mamma Yes; that is, she's a grass widow. Little Margie Why, mamma, did her husband die of hay fever? AMERICANS IN CUBA. Large Industries Passing Into Hands of Progressive Business Men. The real estate and mines of Cuba, as well as new manufacturing indus tries, are going into American hands. Some Spanish-speaking Americans, American born, but naturalized Cu bans, have told the writer that already 40 per cent of the Cuban land is owned by Americans. This probably is an overestimate, but the truth lies In that direction. During the terrible war owners of large plantations of from 5,000 to 10,000 acres were driven by the butcher, Weyler, into the cities. Sup piles arose to starvation .prices, for 200,000 people starved to death. Their plantations were useless. Spaniards burned their sugar plantations, de stroyed their buildings, and even cut down their mango trees, leaving noth ing to support life. Rich planters mortgaged their land to the utmost to get the necessities of life. Once the war was over, they found themselves prostrated, unable to get from under mortgages. The result has been that vast tracts of the best land In Cuba have been on the market for one-tenth their value fifteen years ago. Ameri cans with capital have bought thou sands of such plantations, as well as smaller ones, In some instances sub dividing and selling tc smaller invest ors, in others turning by their own in dustry a wilderness into fruitful fields. At Banes is the second largest sugar plantation In Cuba, operated by capi talists from Boston. It shipped last year 150,000 bags of sugar of 320 pounds each. A number of others are measurably as prosperous. There are, at present, no sugar refineries In Cuba. All sugar is shipped out crude. But as refined sugar costs much more In Cuba because of shipment to the United States and return, plus the price of re fining, already plans are on foot for re fining plants there, where sugar cane grows sixteen feet high, needs plant ing but once in twelve years, and two crops a year are cut. In Havana are three shoe factories, the first in Cuba, where shoes are made by machinery fit for a man to wear for a Cuban shoe is an instrument of torture. In all Cu ban cities are many factories for mak ing shoes by hand in Cuban fashion. One of the proprietors of uiese com plained to the writer that the Havana factories were ruining his - business, . and would that of all his fellow crafts men. For the good of humanity, one would say who had tried to wear a Cu ban shoe, may they do so speedily! The celebrated copper mines of San tiago Province, one of the richest known, have recently passed into the hands of an American syndicate. Pil grim. : A' statesman often is good at repar tee but the politician is generally quick; at figures. A miser is known by the money ha keeps. . . . .