LAIDLAW CHRONICLE VOL. LAIDLAW , CROOK COUNTY, OREGON, 1. NEWS OF THE WEEK In a Condensed Form for Our Busy Readers. HAPPENINGS OF TWO CONTINENTS A Resume o f the Less Important but Not Less Interesting Events o f the Past Week Taft has a plan by which peace may come without intervention. The government is buying horees for use by the army. many The Standard Oil company’ s only rival in Canada lias lost its plant by tire. The bodies of 11 Japanese fishermen slaughtered by Russians have been found. The United States will send a cruiser squadron to Fez to support otr minister in his demands. Twelve persons have been arrested for an attempt upon the life of Preimer Stolypin, of Russia. The United States has all prepara tions made for sending a strong army to Cuba if necessary. Senator Beveridge in a speech de clared that if the American Hag is a^ain raised in Cuba it will never come down. Negro assaults on white women at Atlanta, Georgia, caused a race war in which many of the blacks were killed or injured. STAN D AR D E M PLO Y E S Conflict at Whiting, Ind , May Spread Throughout Middle West. Chicago, Sept. 24 — Warfare be tween the Standard Oil company and the labor unions of the country was begun last night, when the Whiting, Ind., emplo* es of the company quit work to force their demand for an in crease in wages. The strike, which al ready threatens to tie up the business of the big corporation in the Middle West, is likely to assume gigantic pro portions before it is ended. It was pre dieted last night it might involve all the employes of the company in the country. Already the Chicago labor unions are preparing to seize the opportunity pre sented by the Whiting strike to make more trouble for the company. They were wholly unprepared, because the employes there were not members of a union, but after a hasty conference last night it was said that they would sup port the men who went out and that no one from Chicago would take their places. Three hundred firemen em ployed by the Standard Oil company left their places yesterday. More than 5,000 employes who are working with the firemen are scheduled to leave their places today. These include engineers, sk ill*] mechanics, laborers and others, the officials of whom said last night that they would refuse members of the organization work when new members might be put to work in place of the strikers. The firemen were called out because the representatives of the Standard Oil company refused to advance wages from 22 % cents an hour to 25 cents an hour, and agree to grant all the workmen the eight hour day. They aleo refused to recognize the union. R USSIAN C AM PAIG N BEGUN. are being Many riots are occurring in Moscow, Russia. Buildings are being burned by the revolutionists. A card sharper has swindled rich Pittsurgers out of $1,000,000. Some of the p under has been secured. Monster Meteor Seen. 8to^kton, Sept. 24.— At ft o’clock last evening a great meteor fell in the nor»h western heavens, and many persons de clare that an explosion occurred which was felt in this city. A monster tail of smoke followed the falling body, which seemed to go in a z gzag coarse. SEPTEMBER L’ !S, BRIDGE C O LLAPSE S. S T R IK E . Parties Hold Muzzled Conventions — The German press is bitter in its Reaction in Trepoff s Favor. denunciation of the action of C r at St. Petersburg, Sept. 24. — Active Britain in ordering a German liner out work in the autumn electoral campaign of Portsmouth. was inaugurated by tne Octoberists, An outbreak is reported to have oc who today opened the Kazan congress curred in Vera Cruz, Tabasco and Chi with delegates from 12 of the Volga apas provinces, Mexico. Ten thousand provinces and the vast central districts meq are said to have joined the move of Russia in attendance. Alexander ment. Guchkoff, the Or oberist leader, was Premier Stolypin is declared to be present, laboring tooth and nail. Owing to failure of the Octoberiste to insane. obtain official sanction, the congress Anarchy in Morocco may force inter was held behind closed doors and mem vention. bers of the press were excludedt In pursuance of the decision of the Russian terrorists have sentenced the government to permit the national con czar to death. gress of the Constitutional Democratic Secretary Root was received with party anywhere except in St. Peters high honor at Panama, • burg, the administration has permitted The steamer Mongolia has been the reopening of Constitutional Demo cratic clubs in Moscow and elsewhere, Hoated and taken to Midway. but persists in its determination to There are now 12 warships of the suppress political agitation in the capi different classes in Cuban waters. tal. The most remarkable development The death list from the recent Hong of the week has been tire change in sen kong typhoon w ill probably reach ten timent concerning the late General thousand. Trepoff. The universal chorus of mal ediction and condemnation has given Medical authorities in India have discovered that the spread of the plague place since his death to a non-partisan appreciation of his real meritB and de has been largely due to rats. fects, and his career has been the sub A collision between two freight ject of fair and even laudatory criti tiains on the Great North'rn at Cut cisms in nearly all circles. M. Mem- Fank, Mont., resulted in the death of chinski, a prominent writer and pub- five men. '•sher, who was recently suppressed, An edict has been issued in China out who is now a contributor to Here- g ving the people ten yeais to qu t lom, gives the following verdict on the opium using. At the end of that pe - basis of lifelong acquaintance with the iod its use and sale is to be prohibited. dead man: “ General Trepoff was an excellent A dynamite explosion at Jellico, man and a good official, though he Tenn., killed 12 persons and injured sometimes violated his own convictions scores of others. The property damage because of a false notion of soldierly w ill amount io $500,000. A carload of obedience. He would have made a dynamite was exploded in some manner splendid soldier, hut lucked a thorough unknown. education and, above all, the prepara A new treaty with San Domingo is tion necessary lor the political activity thrust upon him. He possessed, how proposed. ever, one great asset, lacking in all con A new law' in Russia grants more re temporary Russian statesmen— charac ligious freedom. ter.” General Funston will join Taft and Day o f Rest for Railroad Men. Bacon at Havana. Paris, Sept. 24.— Although the rail The stench from corpses at Hongkong roads are specifically exempt from the is causing eickness. operation of the Sunday rest law, the The sugar markets of the world are chairman of the six leading railroad companies have notified Minister of unsettled by the Cuban revolt. American arsenals are preparing am Public Works Bart.hou that they have munition for UF6 in Cuba in case an arranged to grant, within 18 months, 52 holidays a year to their entire staffs, army is sent to the island. numbering in all 280 000 men. It is Suit has been commenced to oust the impossible to make this day of rest Waters-Pierce Oil company from Texas. fall on Sunday, but it w ill come for Violtion of the anti-trust law is the different men in rotation. This will ground for action. pl tee the railroad men on an equality Sailors of the navy have sued for with other workmen in holidays. damages because they are excluded Counterfeit Bills at Moscow. from amueement places. They are Moscow, Idaho, Sept. 24. — Ten dol hacked by the government. lar counterfeit bills are numerous in Taft and Bacon have warned all par Moscow. They are all new and bright, ties in the Cuban controversy that fail which has led the police to the conclu ure to agree will bring an army from sion that the city is infested with a the United States to the island. gang of green goods men. The bills Esther Mitchell and Mrs. Creffield are well engrave«! and printed, requir cannot d stinguish between right and ing almost expert knowledge to detect Suspicion pointe to two men, wrong, according to the insanity com them. mission, and are dangerous persons to giving their names as W. A. Reming ton and Frank Clark, but they have he at large. succeeded in eluding the police. The Pacific Steamship company’s «tear er City of Seattle has gone on the Newfoundland Angry at Parent. rocks at Trail is and, near Vancouver, St. Johns, N. F., Sept. 2 4 — The re B. C. The passengers w'ere all landed ported determination of the Imperial safely and it is thought the vessel can government to override the colonial au he saved. thorities and concede to the American Voliva has been elected overseer of commission a more liberal construction Zion City by the residents of the Dow- of the herring fishery laws asked on be half of American fishermen, has evoked ieite town. much criticism here. Canada, it is The cruiser Minneapolis has sailed said, may be a factor in the dispute, a»* for Cuba. she has for years enforced against The Cuban government has agents in Americans the laws that Newfonudland now seeks to make effective. Kansas buying horses. More railroad bridges burned by Cuban rebels. FRIDAY, OREGON STATE ITEMS OF INTEREST S T A T E FAIR A SU CC E SS. GRABBED BY SPE C U LATO R S. Many Killed and Injured in Oklahoma Train Wreck. Guthrie, Okla., Sept. 19.--E ight peo ple are dead, 20 more 01 less injured, and as many more are missing in the most disastrous wreck in the recent his- to~y of the Rock Island, which occurred three miles from Dover, Okla., yester day. The engine, tender baggage and mail cars, smoker and day coach of passen ger train No. 12, northbound, left the high bridge that spans the Cimarron river, and plunged into the current flanked by tieacherous quicksands. The locomotive disappeared from sight almost immediately. The mail and baggage clerks escaped from their coaches and swam to the shore. The accident was due to the defective condition of the bridge which was swerved out of line by the preeeure of driftwood carried down by the swollen stream. The train was an hour late and was running at high speed to make up time. The engineer did not see the condition of the bridge until he was within a few yards, when it was too late to stop. He shouted to his fire man, threw on the brakes and jumped. He landed on the very verge of the river hank and escaped unhurt. The fireman was leas fortunate, sustaining severe injuries. When the engine struck the bridge the whole structure suddenly collapsed, precipating the engine and coaches into the water. The chair car and two heavy Pullmans were not pulled in, but remained on the track The most authentic accounts place the number of passengers in the smok er at between 26 and 30. With but few exceptions these have not been ac counted for. The only hopeful news is contained in messages received from rural districts. Men on bits of drift- wood have been seen going down stream at various points, hut attempts at res cue have in most instances proved futile. Attendance at Salem About Equal to Klamath County Development Will Be Delayed, Says Blanchard. T w o Years Ago. Ban Francisco — C. J. Blanchard, a Salem— Notwithstanding three half days of cold, rainy weather, together member of the reclamation service from with the fact that this is the height of Washington, is authority foi the state the hop haivest, the Oregon state fair ment that the development of the of 1908 has been one of the most suc Klamath country will be hindered be cessful in the history of the state. The cause of the fact that land speculators attendance was about equal to that of have seized upon hundreds ®f acres in two years ago and was much larger on tFiis new irrigation proeject of the gov Portland day. Bales of concessions and ernment. “ I look for a great development in advertising space have been good and receipts from this source have been the Klamath country,” he said, “ but this development will be delayed be iarge. The additions to the pavilion not on cause of the number of land speculators ly made more space for exhibits, but who have secured fine tracts there. gave more room for sales of conces They are holding this land at from $25 sions. These circumstances made the to $40 an acre. This price will pre fair a success financially and it is stated vent many settlers from coming to Ore that there are funds on hand to pa} gon, and will retard the progiess of the Klamath country. The government every claim. Nearly 4,000 people were camped in will charge the settlers $25 an acre for the grove in front of the fair grounds watei, and this amount, added to the and the come-and-stay-all-week idea has speculators' price for the la.i«^ will become so popular that a number of act to the detriment of the purchaser. regular visitors at the fair have decided The news that the Southern Pacific will to erect small cottages on the grounds build through Klamath will greatly add next year. Bince regular streets and to the value of the land there.” Blanchard was delighted with the blocks have beer, laid out, this can be work of the irrigation congress at'Boise, done satisfactorily. Visitors to the state fair gave only which he attended. “ We appointed a publicity commit passing attention to the sample roa i the government is building adjacent to tee there,” he said, “ which will great the state fair grounds. The end of the ly aid the Pacific coast. This commit roa 1 and a few rods of its length are tee will place before the common peo plainlj visible from the street car track, ple of the United States a truthful re as also are the crushed rock bunkers, port of the irrigation country and will but aside from the view thus obtained help them get land.” the visitors paid little attention to the Change Poor Farm System. road. The road won quite general ap proval, especially od the rainy daye, Albany— Paupers don’ t maxe good when the crushed rock road was entire farmers, and as a result Linn county ly free from mud and slush. will soon change its system of manag A few farmers and road supervisors ing its poor farm. No attempt will be took time to inspect the manner in made to operate the farm as an indus NEW STO R M ARISES. which the road was built and made in try hereafter, but the land will be quiries as to the construction, but the rented, and the man in charge w ill be Santo Domingo Again Infected With greater number were more interested in paid a stated price per month for the Revolutionary Fever. livestock and horse races. hoard and care of the poor. Hereto Washington, Sept. 19.— Just as the fore the county has maintained the farm, paying a superintendent, and the Cuban insurrection appears to be on Tunneling on O. R. & N. the point of harmonious adjustment, La Grande— An enlarged force of system has not proved pronialie. the United Htatea government is con men is now engaged in tunneling the fronted with a new outbreak in Banto Begins Work on Second Unit. mountains between Kamela and Hi 1- Commander Southerland, Klamath Falls— Work on the second Domingo. gard iD order that the O. R. & N. main senior American naval officer in Do line will not cross so many trestles, unit of the irrigation system has com minican waters, reported to the Navy which at present are high and numer menced under direct supervision of the department by cable late this afternoon This unit in ous. When the tunneling is completed government officials. that an insurrection is about to break the stream that now crosses and re cludes 19 miles of the F^ast Branch out in Banto Domingo at any time. He Bids crosses the right of way will have a canal and 27 miles of laterals. says that the government has sent a continuous course on one eide of the for the construction c this unit were force of 100 men to Monte Christo. track. The trestles will be filled in as advertised for some months ago, but The situation is declared to be acute. the new course is fixed, and much re non* was received, and the construction He fears that an uprising may take pair and loss of time, which necessarily work is now undertaken by the govern place. He requests that the Dixie, follows from so many trestles, will be ment, on force account. which is now in Cuban waters, be re eliminated. The scheme is a gigantic Hop Picking Resumed in Clackamas. turned at once to Banto Domingo. oDe an«l will require many months to When the advisability of withdraw Oregon City— Hoppicking has been complete. resumed in earnest in all yards in this ing the naval forces from Dominican locality. No damage has resulted to waters was discussed when the crisis Labor Famine at Hood River. came in the Cuban revolt, a suggestion Hood River— The scarcity of laborers the hop crop here on account of the was made that it might give encourage at H ool River is said by sawmill men rain, except in a few yards where some ment to the insurgents in that island. and applegrowers here to have become of the vines were laid on the ground on It was finally decided, however, that a serious matter. One of the big mills, account of the heavy foliage. The yield the Dominican government had matters which have been trying for a long time continues about one-fourth below the well in hand and that no change was to to get white men for employment in its average, but the quality is good. Pick be apprehended with the present fleet plant, has had to fall hack on Japs. ing will be finished in most of the yards of gunboats in those waters. As they are said to be entirely unfa- in this county by the last of the week. miliar with the work they are a most PO R TLA N D M ARKETS. FU N S TO N TO LEAD. serious handicap in getting out lumber. Ranchers are in need of men for pick Wheat — Club, 63c; bluestem, 66c; ing apples, and other work at this sea valley, 66@68c; red, 60c. Will Be In Command of American son of the year, and are making every Army in Case o f Intervention. Oats — No. 1 white, $23® 24; gray, effort to obtain them, but without suc $22 per ton. Washington, Sept. 19. — General cess. Barley — Feed, $20®21; brewing, Frederick F’unston, who is now on his $21 50@22; rolled, $22 per ton. way to Washington under orders from Books for School Libraries. Rye— $1.35 per cwt. the War department, will probably be Salem — Bo satisfactory have the re Corn— Whole, $-7; cracked, $28 per assigned to command the army in Cu sults of the traveling library system ton. ba, if intervention should be found ne proven, from an educational stand Hay— Valley timothy, No. 1, $10® While orders have not been point, that the State Library commis i l per ton; Eastern Oregon timothy, cessary. sion has elected to place a new order $]2@14; clover, $7®7.50* cheat, $7® issued for the movement of troops to Cuba, tl e army was never better pre for 42,000 books for school libraries, in 7 50; grain hay, $7; alfalfa, $10; pared for quick action, if it is found addition to what is already on hand, vetch hay, $7@7.50. necessary to send them to Cuba. at a total cost to the state of $11,- Fruits — Apples, common, 25@50c General Funston is probably as well 802.35. Among the most popular of per box; fancy, 75e@$1.50; grapes, informed regarding conditions in the the books ordered are the life of Robin 60c@$l 60 per crate; Concords, 27 son Crus e, Baldwin’s Life of Lincoln, @30c per basket; peaches, 80c®$1 ; island as any officer of the army. He made a good reputation in the Philip Btories of Great Americans for Little pears, 50r@$1.25; plums, fancy, 25@ pines, and only a few months ago at Americans— 50 famous stories, and 75c per box; blackberries, 5@6c per tracted attention by the manner in Black Beauty. pound; crab apples, $1®1.26 per box. which he handled the difficult situa Melons— Cantaloupes, 50c®$1 25 per tion growing out of the employment of Italians Crack on Trees. crate; watermelons, % @ lc per pound; troops in Ban Francisco after the earth Oregon City—The rain and scarcity casahas, $2 50 per dozen. quake. The fact that he is under or of help have conspired to do extensive Vegetables— Beans. 5®7c; cabbage, damage to the Clackamas county prune 134 @ 2 c per pound; cauliflower, 75c®$1 ders to come to Washington and to crop, which promised a good yield with per drzen; celery, 90c per dozen; corn, await further instructions indicates large returns to the grower. Many 12)*c per dozen; cucumbers, 15c per that he is wanted for important duty. Italians are cracking on the trees as a dozen ; egg plant, 10c per pound; let Dynamite From the Sky. result of the severe rain of the last few tuce, head. 20c per dozen; onions, 10® days, while hundreds of bushels of this 12j^c per dozen ; peas, 4@5c; bell pep Brussels, Bept. 19.— Sensational ru fruit on the ground beneath the trees pers, 12!*® 15c; radishes, 10® 15c per mors of a plot against the Russian czar are becoming unmarketable and will be dozen; spinach, 2 ® 3c per pound; to and his family are being circulated a total loss to the grower because of the matoes, 30®60c per box; parsley, 25c; here. It is stated that the revolution inability to get necessary help. sprouts, 8c per pound; squash, $1® aries, finding it impossible to apuroach 1 2 * per crate; turnips, 90c®$1 per the palace at Peterhof by land or sea, Very Heavy Sales o f Sheep. sack; carrots, $1@1.25 per sack; beets, have purchased balloons from an Amer Baker City— Owing to the unofficial $1.25® 1.50 per sack ; horseradish, 10c ican inventor, the purpose being to as cend from the German frontier and announcement by government officials per pound. some days ago that next year the rang Onions —New, 1 '4 ®1 \ c per pound. drop down explosives on the palace. It ing of sheep on forest reserves would Potatoes— Oregon Burbanks, 80®90c; is intended to destroy the infant czare vitch and Grand Duke Vladimir. It is be restricted at least 50 per cent, sheep sweet potatoes, 2)£c per pound. owners have, during the past three Butter— Fancy creamery, 25®30c per said the authorities became aware of the plot and arrested the ringleaders. weeks, sold large portions of their pound. flocks. The pries have been good and Eggs— Oregon ranch, 27® 27){c per Her Position Dangerous. it is estimated by one sheep buyer that dozen. Honolulu, Bept. 19.— The latest ad 75,000 head have been sold out of Wal Poultry — Average old hens, 14c per lowa and 65,000 oat of B*k *r. pound; mixed chickens, 13®13)ic; vices from the stranded steamer Mon spring, 14® 15c; old roosters, 9® 10o; golia say that holds No. 2 ard 3 are Captains of lccal dressed chickens, 14® 16c; turkeys, filled with water Larger School Attendance. La Grande— The public schools open live, 16®21c; turkeys, dressed, choice, vessels plying to Midway say that the ed with an attendance of 750 and a 21® 223* c ; geese, live, 8® 10c; ducks, Mongolia’ s position is more dangerous than that of the Manchuria. Two corps of 19 teachers, with one teacher 14® 15c. Hops — 1906 contracts, 17®20c per anchors have heen placed out and con yet to be supplied in the high school. The first day’s attendance was in ad pound; 1905, nominal; 1904, nominal. siderable cargo thrown overboard. The Wool —Flastern Oregon average best, steamer Iroquois leaves for Midway to vance of last year’s. A business de partment has been added to the course 15® 19c pr pound, according to shrink night and the tug Restoier will sail and the high school has the twelfth age; valley, 20® 22c, according to fine Thursday. ness; mohair, choice, 28 ® 30c pei *r«de. _________ More Troops Ready for Service. pound. Hops Damaged by Rain. Veal— Dressed, 5 ^ ® 8 c per pound. Richmond, Ind., Bept. 19.— Com Eugene— The recent rain, by mold Beef — Dressed bulls, 3c per pound; panies G and O, of the Fourth United and breaking strings and poles, damag cows, 4)%®5)^c; country steers, 5®ftc. States infantry, on the way from Fort ed Lane county hops to the extent of 15 Mutton — Dreased, fancy, 7 ® 8c per Beniamin Harrison, near Indianapolis, to 20 per cent. Pickers are in great " « « n d ; ordinary, 5®6c; lambs, fancy, to Fort Wayne, Mich., were today or demand as growers wish to harry the 8 ® H *c . dered to report to Fort Thomas, Ky., harvest. fo rk — Dressed, 7®8)^c per pound. in anticipation of be ng sent to Caba. 1000. VO. DEAD IN THOUSANDS! Many Chinese Were Drowned in Honykony Typhoon. ALL COMMERCE IS PARALYZED Half the Harbor Craft Wrecked and Many Buildings Destroyed — Came Without Warning. Hongkong, Sept 20.— The typhoon which swept this port, destroying a great number of vessels and causing much loss of life, was of a local nature, It came suddenly and without warning. The observatory bad predicted moderate winds. Half an hour after the gun signal had been tired the storm was at its height. It lasted two hours. Most of the damage was wrought on the Kowloon peninsula. The losses aie estimated at several million dollars. Over 1,000 sampans and junks are missing from Hongkong alone. Wharves were sv ept away and houses collapsed. The military barracks are in ruins. The harbor is strewn with wreckage thrown upon the shore. Hundreds of Chinese bratmen and their families were saved by the bravery of the police and civilians, but several thousand of the Chinese water-dwellers must have perished, many within short distances of the shore. The losses in lives and property among the Chinese were ap palling. Today the police stations in Hongkong are surrounded by Chinese identifying their dead. The families of the Hongkong boatmen live night and day on the sampans, and thousands of these people are now homeless. The Chinese take the disaster calmly and show no manifestation of grief. One launch that was capsized had 130 Chinese on board. They were all drowned. Sir Matthew Nathan, governor of Hongkong, and the authorities, are doing all everything possible to render assistance. Reports of fresh disasters are arriving every hour. Only a few Kuropeans are missing. It is now estimated that 5,000 Chi nese lost their lives Reports are daily increasing the mortality. BEGIN THEIR TASK . Taft and Bacon Hear Stories o f Both Factions in Cuba. Havana, Bept. 20.— The presidents of both the Moderate and the Liberal parties this afternoon submitted to Sec retary of War Taft and Assistant Secre tary of State Bacon, representing Presi dent Roosevelt, their respective state ments of the facts leading up to the revolution and the conduct of belliger ents. Each of the presidents tomorrow will present a written statement of the terms he is willing to agree to in the interest of peace. GFneral Menochal, representing the veterans, also related to Messrs. Taft and Bacon the effort he had made in the line of peace and the difficulties he had encountered and gave his opinion as to what courses hold any promi.-e of an amicable settle ment. Today’s hearing began at the home of Minister Morgan in the village of Marianao, which is only three miles from the most, advanced post of the in surgent forse, that of Colonel Baldo- mero Acosta, which is encamped in the vicinity of Arroya Arenas. After the hearings Mr. Taft paid to the Associated Press that he had just begun his work ami that it was evident the mission upon which he came would require more time than he had antici pated before his arrival. He intimated that ten days would he required to complete his errand, hut he could not say whether or not it would he neces sary to visit insurgent camps or other cities than Havana. A private telegraph wire is being strung fiom Mr. Morgan’s house to the cable office in order that Messrs Taft and Bacon may he able to report direct to Mr. Roosevelt. 47 SLAVES IN RAILW AY C AM PS . Negroes by the Hundred Make Com plaint to District Attorney. Knoxville, Term., Bept. 18. — The Federal grand jury now sitting in this city is investigating alleged peonage cases at eeveial railroad camps in this vicinity where hundreds of negroes are employed. The investigation is going on eecretly under the direction of * de tective sent here by the government from Washington on the complaint of numerous negroes to District Attorney J. R. Penland. A ll last week the government bnild- ing was crowded with negroes, who one by one told their tale of woe and maltreatment before the justice. It is believed indictments will be found this week against some prominent railroad contractors and their subordinates. The government détective visited the railroad camps in the role of a man de sirous of purchasing timber lands. He spent a week or more in several differ ent camps located in Blount county, and quietly gathered a volume of evi dence. Most of the negroes were brought here from North and South Carolina and other neighboring states. Witness es have told some frightful stories of the manner in which they were held prisoners at the camps for debt. They allege that a guard line is kept and no man is allowed to pass *hia line. They say tnal outrageous commissary prices are charged them and they get deeply in debt to the contractors. One or two witnesses told stories of seeing negroes killed and assert that the bodies were sunk in the river. BIG FLEET IS SE N T TO SEA. Force o f 4,000 Men Can Be Landed in Cuha by United States. Washington, Bept. 18.— It is an nounced at the Navy department to night that the battleships Louisiana, Virginia and New Jersey have been or dered down the Altantic coast on a shakedown cruise, and that they had been directeJ to keep in touch with the government at Washington by wireless telegraph and, if neceseary, in the event of an emergency arising, they will be sent to Havana. It was also stated that the cruisers Tacoma, Cleveland, Minneapolis and Newaik have sailed from Norfolk, Va. The Minneapolis and Newark carry about 700 men altogether and the Ta coma 150. Bhuuld all these vessels go to Havana the navy would be able to land a force of 4,000 men in Cuba by Wednesday or Thursday, if any devel opments should occur rendering such action nscessary. Final instructions will be given the Cleveland and other vessels when they reach Key Wast. The Cleveland sailed from Norfolk Baturday, wnile the Ta coma left there Sunday. The Louisiana and the Virginia left Newport Saturday after hurriedly coaling. The New Jer sey sailed from Boston. TW O -C E NT FARES IN EAST. Western Governors Say Population it T oo Sparse in Their States. Harrisburg. Pa., Bet. 10.— 8. M. Williams, secretary of the Pennsylvania State Board of Trade, today made pub lic copies of letters received from the governors of several states on the move ment to obtain uniform legislation thioughont the United States for a 2- cent maximum fare on all steam rail roads. A number of the governors are personally favorably to a 2-cent fare, and, in a few instances, they tell of the movements in their states to obtain the passage of such legislation in the next session of the legislature. The governors of some of the West ern states say that because of the sparsely settled condition of their states the time is not yet ripe for a radical reduction of fares, but that such a re form will come aoout when the popu lation increases to give the business to justify a cut. The Western govamors express their approval of the movement so far as it applies to the thickly popu lated states of the East. Scotch Train Wrecked. London, Bept. 20. — The crowded Scotch express train on the Great Northern Railway, leaving London last night, was wrec ked outside of Grant ham at midnight. The train should have stopped at Grantham, but failed to do so. Boon after passing the sta tion the train left the, rails and then jumped a bridge. The engine and sev eral coaches were dashed over the em bankment. There are many passengers beneath the debris. Of ten extric ated five have died. The number of lives lost is not known. Earthquake Felt at Sea. Ban Francisco, Bept. 18.— The lum ber laden ship Robert Searles has ar rived from Tacoma and northern ports. Captain Piltz, in command, states that among other incidents during the trip the officers of the vessel recorded a se vere earthquake shock, which caused a panic among the crew and threatened serious harm to the vessel. Captain Piltz says that on the morning of Sep tember 14, when the ship was within 250 miles of her destination, a severe disturbance of the water was felt. The shock lasted severe1 seconds. German Goods Burned. Buenos Ayres, Bept. 20.— According to the newspapers this morning, the custom house, which was destroyed by fire, contained 30,000 tons of merchan dise, mainly of German origin. The losses are estimated at $1,200,000. The origin of the fire is not known. Five clerks and 70 workmen have heen arrested. Five firemen were injured. The dock and storehouses erected hy the government, at a cost of $100,000, were completely destroyed. Manchuria Has Been Floated. Honolulu, Bept. 18.— The Pacific Mail steamship company’ s steamship M «nebaria, which went aground on Rabbit island August 20, was su cess- fully floated today anti she is now be ing towed to this harbor by the tug Restorer. A great crowd of people are watching the Manchuria being towed in. Dnring the final efforts to pull the Manchuria off the rocks several thou sand hags of flour were jettisoned and is now washing ashore. Artillery General Killed Warsaw, Bept. 2 0 — General Nicolai- eff, of the artillery, has heen assassin ated. He was erroneously thought to be a member of the field court rnartiai. General Nicolaieff was walking on Weilka street this morning, when he was surrounded hy five rt v ilntionists and shot dead. The murderers escaped. Steamer Mongolia Aground. Midway Island, North Pacific Ocean, Bept. 18.— The Pacific Mail steamship Mongolia, a sister ship of the Man churia is aground on Midway reef. The ship is being lightered and her passengers have heen landed safely. Tne weather is fine and the sea is smooth.