ML
.. ... .ms,,
BELGIAN OUTPOST PHOTOGRAPHED IN ACTION
STORY OF LODZ
STARTLES WORLD
Two Whole German
Corps Believed Captured
London The Morning Post's Petro
grad correspondent said he learned Fri
day that one German army corps of
more than 40,000 men with their mu
nitions complete has been captured and
NEWS NOTES OF
CURRENT WEEK
German Losses Greatest Since
Battles of Napoleon.
lesume of World's Important
that he believes when the omcial de
tails of the fighting in Russian Toland
are forthcoming it will be found that
at least two army corps have been cap
tured. Events Told m Brief.
Y '-,ffttP3' 43 m
U. S. WILL MAKE
OWN WAR RULES
Declaration of London Rejected
by United States. .
Washington Prepares to Protect
All Legitimate Commerce on
High Seas of World.
Washington, D. C. The decided
stand taken by the United States gov
ernment in refusing to accept piece
meal adoption of the principles of the
declaration of London as a guide to
commercial restrictions to be imposed
during the European war was made
clear at the State department when
the text of a cablegram sent to Am
bassador Gerard at Berlin on October
14 last was made public.
Mr. Gerard had communicated a pre
liminary notice that Germany intended
to protest to this governoment against
alleged violation of the declaration by
Great Britain and France.
The German ambassador, Count
Bernstorff, called at the State depart
ment Thursday to lodge the formal
complaint, and the text of the reply
cabled to Ambassador Gerard, copies
of which went to all American diplo
matic representatives abroad, was
then made public. It follows:
"Please inform the German govern
ment that the department's suggestion
made to the belligerent countries for the
adoption for the Bake of uniformity of
the declaration of London as a tempor
ary code of naval warfare for use in
the present war has been withdrawn
because of the unwillingness of some
of the belligerents to adopt the declar
ation of London without modification.
"The United States government
therefore insists thut the rights and
duties of those of its citizens in the
present war be defined by the existing
rules of international law and the
treaties of the United States with the
belligerents, independently of the pro
visions rt the declaration and this gov
ernment will reserve the right to enter
a demand or protest in every case in
which the rights and duties mentioned
above and defined by existing rules of
international law are violated or their
free exercise hindered by the authori
ties of the belligerent governments."
The message was Bigned by Counsel
lor Lansing, then acting secretary of
state.
The declaration of London, framed
at an international conference in Lon
don, from which it draws its designa
tion, was designed as a uniform naval
procedure for war times to be recog
nized by all powers participating in
the conference.
It set out definite declarations as to
what articles should be considered con
traband of war and defined the rights
of neutral shipping. The declaration
was generally viewed as marking a
great advance over the conflicting
practices the several nations had ap
plied during periods of belligerency,
with most unsatisfactory results to
neutral shipping. It has never been
ratified, however, by all of the powers
which participated in the conference.
The United States and Germany are
among the powers which have recorded
their acceptance of the declaration,
while Great Britain has not taken this
action.
One article of the declaration pro
vides that it shall be binding as be
tween belligerent powers only on those
by which it has been ratified.
Soon after the outbreak of the
European war it became evident that,
Peace Talk Denounced.
Berlin, via London The Cologne,
Gazette declares that the reports of
German desire for peace, which it
says are probably inspired by the
British, belong to the "region of
higher political idiocy." "The posi
tion of the Germans, neither in the
East nor West," it continues, "is crit
ical. German military undertakings on
11 the battlefields are progressing fa
vorably. Neither the military nor the
political situation contains any reason
which might make Germany desirous
to conclude peace.
3"vir.:
while they recognized in a general
way the spirit of the declaration, Borne
of the belligerent powers intended to
insist on great modifications of im
portant details, basing their action on
the fact that they had not formally
ratified the convention.
Since the declaration was in fact a
compromise between the extreme
views of the several governments,
which participated in the conference,
a high official here pointed out that it
would have been neither just nor fair,
in the opinion of the government, to
consent to any modification without
the agreement of all parties.
The State department felt obliged
to withdraw from its adherence to the
declaration, even before the German
protest was received.
It is said, however, that the Ger
man position that the British have
violated the Bpirit of the declaration
of London by seizing and detaining
food supplies carried in neutral bot
toms and consigned to German ports,
directly or indirectly, is recognized by
the United States officials as sound.
BRITISH WARSHIP BLOWS
UP; 800 OF CREW PERISH
Sheerness, Eng., via London The
British battleship Bulwark was de
stroyed by a terrific explosion as she
lay off here Thursday. There were
only 14 survivors from the crew of 700
or 800 men who were aboard.
In the opinion of naval men it was
an internal explosion that put an end
to the battleship, which ror n years
had done service at home and abroad
and lately had been doing her part in
guarding England's shores. There was
no great upheaval of water such as
would have occurred if Bhe had been
torpedoed or Btruck by a mine.
Instead, the ship was enveloped in
smoke and flame, and when this had
cleared nothing could be seen but
wreckage floating on the water.
Houses in towns seven and eight
miles away were shaken by the
explosion and even before men on
ships anchored near by could reach
their own decks, the Bulwark had dis
appeared. The neighborhood was
strewn with an enormous amount of
wreckage, while pieces of the ship
were thrown six or seven miles onto
the Essex shore.
Considering the size of her navy.
Great Britain has been singularly free
from disaster of this character. Nev
ertheless when the French warship
Jena was destroyed by an internal ex
plosion in 1907 all cordite ammunition
was taken from all the British ships
and carefully examined. Refrigera
tors were installed in the ships to keep
the powder cool.
The Bulwark,' which was one of the
older battleships, cost 1,000,000 ($5,
000,000). It is believed here that the explosion
of the Bulwark was caused by the fall
and bursting of a 12-inch lyddite shell
in her magazine.
Delayed Reward Large.
Montville, Conn. A bequest of $75,
000 is the reward which has been
given to Henry A. Bolles, of this
place, for saving a little girl from
drowning in the Thames river 28 years
ago. The girl was the daughter of a
Mr. Trumbull, of New York City, and
had fallen overboard from her father's
yacht. Mr. Bolles, a boatman at that
time, said he remembered that the
father asked his name, but he had
heard nothing rnore Bince then,
Trumbull died recently and Mr. Bolles
has just been notified of the bequest
Dt Wefs Sons Surrender.
London The Cape Town correspon-
aent or ne Keuter Melegram company
says that two sons of General Chris
tian DeWet, the rebel leader, have
surrendered to a magistrate in Cape
Town. Several of General DeWet's
chief officers, together with most of
his supporters to the west of the rail
way line, surrendered at the same
time.
Kaiser's Son Recovering.
Amsterdam "Prince August Wil
liam, fourth son of the German em
peror, who was injured in a motor car
accident, is improving, but complete
recovery will take a long time," says
the Berlin correspondent of the T,ele-graaf.
GERMANS LISTEN
TO PEACE TALK
Welfare Union Appeal Read by
People in Holland.
Belgium To Be Held at Any Cost
Until Negotiations Begin
Invasion Dreaded.
The Hague, Holland Although the
German press asserts that Germany
can bring 6,000,000 reservists into the
field without making use of men under
18 and over 45 years old, there are
several indications that German offl
cials desire peace.
Semi-official attempts are being
made to negotiate first with one and
then with the other of the allied
forces. The German sections of the
peace societies are sending circulars to
their representatives in Holland and
other neutral states to initiate a peace
movement.
The International Wohlfahrt Verein
(Welfare Union) of Berlin, has made
a direct appeal to influential Dutch
newspapers by means of a printed cir
cular inclosed in an open envelope, ex
pressing the wish that all . neutral
countries and lovers of peace work to
gether and prepare the way for media
tion overtures to be made by some
neutral power, as, for instance, the
United States.
It is considered remarkable that the
circular should have reached its
tination. If its contents had been dis
pleasing to the German censor it nev
er would have passed the frontier.
In military and governmental circles
in Holland it is considered likely that
Germany itself soon will open peace
negotiations. The government, it is
said, sees itself menaced by invasion,
and should the enemy march into Ger
many, the people would feel that they
have been misled by the government
as to the trend of the war. It also
would impair the authority of the cen
tral government and the cohesion of
the states of the empire.
Germany, public men at The Hague
believe, will try to hold Belgium at all
costs until peace negotiations are
opened, Bince it desires to use Belgium
as a pawn for obtaining favorable con
ditions from the allies. A strong sec
ond line of defense has been prepared
in Belgium. Roughly, it runs from
Antwerp to Moris. A third line
being prepared along the Meuse river,
American Ship Seized.
Santiago, Chile The American
steamship Sacramento, which until a
few months ago was the German
steamship Alexandria, has put into
Valparaiso and the story related by
her captain has resulted in the Chilean
authorities starting in investigation to
determine who is responsible for the
apparent violation of neutrality in
which she was involved. The Sacra
mento, Captain Jacobson, left San
Francisco for Valparaiso under her
new register and flying the Stars and
Stripes October 15.
German Forces Again
Retreating in Poland
London An official communication
given out In Petrograd, according
to
an Exchange Telegraph dispatch, an
nounces a German retreat in Poland,
The statement follows:
"Between the Vistula and the Warta
the Germans have retreated from the
line running from Strykow to Zgirz,
bzadek, Zdunska, Wola and Wozniki.
Trade Balance Grows.
Washington, D. C Exports at the
principal ports, which handle 80 per
cent of that business, totaled $39,217,
537 for the week ended November 21
as against imports of $24,834,124,
leaving a trade balance of more than
$14,000,000 in favor of the United
States for the week and bringing the
trade balance for the month to more
than $46,000,000.
Great Army Is Cut Off From Sup
ply of Food and Ammunition;
Surrender by Thousands.
London The Petrograd correspond
ent of the , Morning Post says that
when the full details of the Russian
victory in Poland are available they
will furnish a story that will astonish
the world a story telling of a blow to
Germany's finest troops such as had
not been dealt since the days of Na
poleon. The Daily Mail s Petrograd corres
pondent, who, in common with other
Petrograd correspondents, hints that
there is to come still bigger news
which they are unable at this time to
transmit, says the possibility which
seemed to exist that the German forces
which escaped the enveloping move
ment east of Lodz would Bucceed in
breaking through near Strykow and
joining the rest of the German forces
now appears hopeless.
This German force, adds the corres
pondent, is fighting its way back in
the direction of the Vistula, under a
terrible artillery fire, which is causing
an appalling loss of life. The Ger
mans are reported to be short of both
food and shells, as a result of being
cut off from their base.
The following statement from the
Russian general staff was made public
torn Petrograd Friday night:
On the left bank of the Vistula our
troops, advancing from the lower part
of the Bzura river, have reached Gom
bin.
In the center 01 the battle line we
aptured the town of Brzeziny and the
villages in the valley of the Mroga
river. In some places we dislodged
the Germans by bayonet attacks. Our
offensive in this region continues.
"Between Brzeziny and Glowno our
cavalry succeeded in several charges
againBt the German infantry. During
the retreat of the enemy we captured
number of field guns, some with
their teams complete. jWe are com
puting the number of prisoners cap
tured.
Among the uerman troops we
pushed back from Rzgow and Tuszyn
toward Brzeziny was a division of the
Prussian Guard.
"In the region of Sgiers and Stry
kow we attacked the Germans toward
Lodz. Between Sgiers and Zdunska
Wola some German troops are still
holding themselves in their trenches.
In general, between the Vistula
and the Warta, the fighting is favor
able to our arms.
A Rome dispatch says the Russian
embassy announces that the battle of
Lodz has been renewed with fresh
forces. Several German divisions
were annihilated and many German
generals were killed, it adds: The
German front has been broken in sev
eral places and a decision is imminent.
One German corps, including nearly
50,000 men, having surrendered, a sec
ond corps that has been cut off from
the main army in the battle of Lodz,
Russian Poland, was completely routed,
according to a Petrograd dispatch re
ceived via Paris.
Great Britain Still Has
Confidence in Naval Power
London The British government,
while regretting its naval losses dur
ing the war, is apparently in no fear
that its predominance in number of
fighting craft will be threatened ser
iously.
Britain can lose a superdread
naught every month for 12 months
without a single loss to the enemy,
said Winston Spencer Churchill, first
lord of the admiralty, in the house of
commons, "and yet be in as good a po
sition of superiority as she was at the
outbreak of the war."
Mr. Churchill declined to discuss
such topics as the naval engagement
off Heligoland, the destruction of the
British cruisers Monmouth and Good
Hope off the coast of Chile and the
British naval expedition in Antwerp
prior to the fall of the Belgian for
tress, asserting such discussion would
be profitless until he was able to re
veal all the facts. Instead, he went
on to give a few details regarding the
work the British navy was performing,
Convict Demands Wages.
Providence R. I. Arguments on the
constitutionality of the law authoriz
ing the state to make contracts selling
the labor of prisoners without com
pensating them were heard before the
Rhode Island Supreme court. On the
ground that such enforced servitude
on the part of a prisoner is slavery and
that the state constitution prohibits
slavery without making an exception
against convicts, the national commit
tee on prison labor is pressing the suit
against a garment company which
holds a contract for prisoners' labor.
Germans Say No Change.
Berlin An official announcement
given out in Berlin says:
"English ships did not attack the
coast of Flanders again Friday. There
have been no actual changes along the
battle front in the western arena. To
the north of Langemarck, we have
taken a group of houses and made
number of prisoners. Our attack in
the Argonne region has made further
progress. French attacks in the neigh
borhood of Apremont were repulsed.
"It seems," the correspondent adds,
that the large number of German re
inforcements from Wielun, with which
it was intended to envelop the Russian
left flank, arrived only in time to sup
port the retreat of the whole German
Ight.
'The Russian cavalry made a series
of charges into the masses of retreat
ing German Infantry, doing terrible
execution on the fugitives."
The Warsaw correspondent of the
Reuter Telegram company sends the
following diBpatch:
"Long columns of German prisoners
are passnig through this city. Among
them are many of the Prussian guard.
Many wounded have their hands and
feet frozen and lack warm clothing."
On the entire front of the Vistula
and Warthe rivers the Germans have
begun retreat, according to meager
reports received from the front, says a
Petrograd dispatch. At some points,
it is said, the backward movement re
sembles a rout, artillery, ammunition
and commissary stores being left on
the field.
One detachment of Germans in the
front fighting before Lodz, which re
ports arriving here assert was cut to
pieces by the Russians, is said to have
been on the point of executing a coup,
disguised as Russians. It is alleged
that they wore the round fur-peaked
caps which form part of the Caucasian
regiment s uniform.
They were detected as they were
about to turn the Russian flank by
Russian officers, who noted, through
their field glasses, slight differences in
the uniform and equipment of the Ger
mans, according to the story.
General Zapata Maintains
Order in Mexican Capital
Washington, D. C. The main forces
of General Zapata occupied Mexico
City Thursday night and are maintain
ing order, according to official tele
grams from Mexico City.
Two messages were received, one
from the Brazilian minister and the
other from American Consul Silliman.
Both were filed in Mexico City.
Mr. Silliman reported that the Zap
ata forces, after sharp fighting in the
outskirts of the Mexican capital, in
which 60 soldiers were reported killed,
entered just as the forces of General
Blanco evacuated the city. There was
some disorder and looting in the brief
interval between the evacuation by
Blanco and the arrival of the Zapata
troopB, but the city was quiet imme
diately afterwards.
The Brazilian minister said he had
received full assurances from the Zap
atistas that they would maintain order.
Italy's Entry in War Forecast.
London Everything known in Xon-
don points to the growing likelihood of
the early entry into the war of Italy,
The Italian reservists residing here
have been summoned to the colors,
The officers were called home several
weeks ago.
'Should the moment arrive," said
an official, "when Germany threatened
to sweep all before it, the instinct of
self-preservation would bring not only
Italy but the entire Balkan world into
line against the German-Turkish
scheme of universal conquest. Europe
simply will not brook the prospect of
the overthrow of its separate and di
versified civilization."
Rain Ts Arkansas' Hope.
Little Rock The great smoke cloud
from hundreds of forest fires which
lifted in Little Rock Thursday again
settled over the city, and it was im
possible to see more than two or three
blocks even on well-lighted streets,
Reports indicate that similar conditions
prevailed all over the state. The only
hope of extinguishing the tires is
general rain, and the weather bureau
offers little hope of this. That any
considerable setback was given to the
fires by rains in portions of the burning
district was not indicated in reports.
Croker to Wed Indian Maid.
New York Ketaw Kaluntuchy,
wnose grandfather, Chief oequoy, was
a Cherokee warrior and wise man.
the bride-to-be of Richard W. Croker,
who used to be the "big chief" of
Tammany Hall. Her father, a Scotch
man, married Princess Sequoyah, the
Indian chief's daughter. This devel
oped Thursday when a marriage license
was issued to Richard Welsted Croker,
73 years old, no occupation, and Miss
Beulah Benton Edmondson, 23 years
old, a singer.
Berlin Denies Sea Loss.
Berlin The official press bureau
made denial of the statement of the
secretary of the British admiralty that
a German submarine had been sunk off
the coast of Scotland by a British pa
trolling vessel.
"British reports concerning the de
struction of German submarines," says
the bureau, "are unfounded. No sub
marines are missing."
Kaiser's Coat is Captured.
Petrograd The Army Messenger
asserts that among the trophies taken
by the.Kussians at tzenstochowa was
Emperor William's carriage, which
contained one of the emperor's coats.
The Messenger also says:
"The Germans are making attack
after attack in an attempt to break the
Russian forces, but without success.
The Turkish embassy at Rome says
that the Egyptian advance guard on -the
Suez canal has deserted to the
Turks.
Thanksgiving Day found 7,000,000
tarving Belgians in dire want of
bread and only half enough to appease
their hunger.
A young Portland streetcar con
ductor was electrocuted in a bath tub
when he reached ,up to turn off the
electric light.
Promotion of officers in the U. S.
navy is declared to De too siow, ana
General Blue says officers are worn out
before they reach higher grades.
Fifteen regiments of Russian sold
iers, with 70 barge loads of ammuni
tion, have arrived in the Servian town
of Raduievatz, to aid that country.
Dispatches from Petrograd state
that the German lines in Russian Po
land have been seriously disorganized,
and that a great army is surrounded by
the Russians.
A British aviator dropped a bomb
quarely on a German ammunition
train, which blew up. The explosion
was heard and felt many miles along
the allies' lines.
Turkey has made a formal and satis
factory explanation to the United
States government for firing on an
American launch that attempted to
enter a Turkish closed harbor.
A dispatch to the Havas agency
from Athens says advices received in
the Greek capital from Mitylene state
that a Turkish mine-layer has been tor
pedoed and sunk in the Bosphorus.
A dispatch to Berlin from Berne
says reports from a reliable source
set forth that the French losseB, up to
November 1, were 130,000 men killed,
370,000 wounded and 167,000 missing.
General'Carranza has established a.
temporary jeat of government at Vera
Cruz, from which point he will conduct
a campaign against General Villa and
Zapata, who have occupied Mexico
City. It is said in Petrograd that the re
port published in the Bourse Gazette
that Russia, France and Great Britain
were endeavoring to secure the re
opening of the Dardanelles is a pure
invention.
Reports of a pan-Islamic anti-British
movement are confirmed by the Russ
koye Slovo, of Petrograd, which says
that the movement had its beginning
in Afghanistan. The Porte says that
all Arabs who are fit for military serv
ice have declared their readiness for a
holy war.
"The situation'at" present does not
demand legislation for the suppression
of football, " said Premier Asquith in
the house of commons, replying to a,
question as to whether such a move
was under way. The premier added
that negotiations with the football
magnates were progressing from
which satisfactory results were ex
pected.
Cardinal Aristides Cavallari, patri
arch of Venice, is dead.
Richard Croker, former leader of
Tammany Hall, is soon to be married.
A prominent newspaper in Berlin
says peace talk is "higher political
idiocy.
One week's exports from the U. S.
exceeds the imports bv more than
$14,000,000.
A German aeroplane with two avi
ators has been captured by cossacks 24
miles from Plock, Russian Poland.
The airmen had dropped several bombs
in Flock.
New rates of pay for English armv
officers showing increases of from 10
to 25 per cent are announced in an
army order. The new daily rate for a
captain is raised from $3 to $3.60, and
for a lieutenant from $2 to $2.50.
These increases also are augmented by
various special allowances.
The admiralty of England announces
that all points of military significance
in leebrugge were subjected to a se
vere bombardment by two British bat
tleships. The German opposition was
feeble. The extent of the damage
done is unknown. The British ships -returned
safe.
An official statement issued by the
maritime authorities says that it has
been proved that German warships
have violated the neutrality of Cehile
by staying for several days in the Juan
Fernandez islands, capturing neutral
ships, seizing coal and provisions and
sinking the French bark Valentine a
half mile from the Chilean coast.
Reports are current in Washington,
D. C, that General Blanco, in charge
of Mexico City, may abandon his post
as Villa nears.
Switzerland hss lodged protests at
London and Bordeaux against the vio
lation of Swiss neutrality by British
aviators, and demands satisfaction.
Telegraphing from Athens, the cor
respondent of the Havas agency says
the Turkish government has forbidden
all subjects of the triple entente pow
ers, with the exception of women and
of children under 18 years old, to leave
I ma uuoman territory.