Grand Rapids Herald-Review Newspaper, December 24, 1904, Page 3

TO TRY DR. KOCH ON DECEMBER 27 NEW ULM DENTIST PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO CHARGE OF MURDER, SCORE KILLED IN MINNEAPOLIS WALLS OF FIRE-GUTTED BUILD. ING CRASH DOWN ON CROCK- ER HOTEL. Stand % TEN PEOPLE ARE MISSING | DEFENSE OBJECTS, BUT JUDGE WEBBER GRANTS’ THE REQUEST. BODIES ARE SUPPOSED TO BE BURIED IN RUINS OF THE WRECKED HOTEL. : | * “es ae ew | a oe Minneapolis, Dec. 21—The Crocker } hotel, Fifth street, between First and Second avenues south, was wrecked about 1 o’clock this morning by the falling of the south wall of the Peck building which was gutted by the big fire in Minneapolis last week. Nearly a score of people are sup- posed to have been killed or injured in the disaster. Ten people are missing at the present writing and are sup- | posed to be buried in the wreck. Sey- en badly injured have been removed | from the ruins and taken to the hos- | pital. The wall was blown over by the wind, which was blowing a gale, fall- ing on the roof of the four-story brick | hotel building. The fire department responded to an alarm, when it was found that the wall had carried the entire interior of the hotel building into the basement. The cries of the Unfortunate Victims could be heard calling for aid and the firemen and others who volunteered their assistance at once began the work of rescue. After a few minutes’ work they suc- ceeded in finding the first victim, who was badly injured and was immediate- ly placed in an ambulance and sent to the hospital. Within the next fifteen | minutes four more of the victims were recovered and sent to hospitals. Injured Cry for Help. Pitiful cries for help were heard, | and the firemen worked with frantic, heartbreaking energy to reach the suf- fering victims pinned under the ter- rific weight of the fallen wall and the floors of the hotel. Moans and shrieks | came up from the black depths of the piled debris, and it was with great dif- New Ulm, Minn., Dec. 21.—Dr. G. R. Koch pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder in the first degree in con- nection with the stabbing to death of his professional rival, Dr. L. A. Geb- hardt, on the night of Nov. 1. He was brought into the court ropm yes- terday morning to make his plea. To the indictment, read by H. W. Childs of St. Paul, Dr. Koch replied “not guilty” in a voice clear and firm. | Attorney G. W. Somerville then moved for immediate trial, which was opposed by Attorney Childs, who said | to the court that he had been called | into the case one week ago and con- | sequently did not have enough time thoroughly to familiarize himself with the case. Insists on Earlier Trial. Attorney Somerville again insisted | that the case come to trial immediate- | ly, and stated that he could not under- | stand why the state should ask for | | more time, as they have had detec- tives working on the case since the murder; that the citizens’ committee had done a great amount of work, and | that many witnesses had been exam- ined before Justice Henningsen through the instrumentality of the | citizens’ committee. At this juncture Gen. Childs became impatient, and emphatically stated that he considered it imprudent for | the state to proceed at this time, and if he did not deem the request reason- able he would not have asked the court for a continuance until Tuesday, | Dec. 27. Fix Date at Dec. 27. Attorney Somerville then wanted the date set for Manday, Dec. 26, but this was objected to by the state’s at- | torney. Judge Webber then fixed the ficulty that the rescuers succeeded in date for the trial Tuesday, Dee. 27, at locating the persons they were striy- | 9 o'clock. ing so bravely to reach. As each of | Jt is expected that it will take ‘sev: the injured that the firemen succeeded | eral days to secure a jury, and it is in digging out was carried to an am- | | doubtful whether any one from New bulance, a sigh of relief ran through | Ulm will be allowed to serve on the the gathering crowds. With each | jury. rescue the possibility of an appalling death list was lessened. As soon as a limp, almost lifeless form was brought out it was hurried to an ambulance, which was rapidly driven to the hos- | ing. & bel eans pital. | “What is the matter with his alibi? Whole Interior Carried Down. | asked the attorney in a non-committal The structure ruined by the great | ¥ m of brick was a four-story brick building. It was built many years | go. The roof reached to about the | ling of the third floor of the Peck building. The south wall of the Peck pbuilding, which fell upon it, was prac- tieally intact after the fire last week, | ish to do that?” asked the reporter. and when it fell it carried the whole | «; think so,” replied the attorney, anaeee i the hotel with it into the | “put I do not care to discuss our de- yasemen lities?” The building was a black chasm of | fants, ae a ae a number of ruin, and the work of the firemen was | young women were in the court room extremely difficult. A small blaze wae | 44 they had their eyes constantly on located in the ruins and streams of Dr. Koch. water were turned on it before the fire The prisoner was looking well and le ade eal Bal apparently was in better spirits than The fire departm< nt arrived on the at any time since his arrest. scene a few minutes after the collapse and the work of rescuing the victims was immediately begun. Within a few minutes the firemen began to bring out the bodies of the injured. Hospi- tal ambulances were on hand to take them to the hospitals without delay. Information as to the number of guests in the house was very meager and the extent of the disaster could only be conjectured by the horror- stricken onlookers. New Phase for Handkerchief. “What will be your line of defense?” | was asked of Senator George Somer- ville, Koch’s attorney, after the hear- ay. “Well, how does that explain his handkerghief being found in Geb- hardt’s office?” “Couldn’t that have been placed there by some one who wanted to fix suspicion upon him?” “Do you know any one who would EXPLOSION KILLS TWO. Locomotive Boiler Blows Up—Engi- neer and Fireman Killed. Davenport, Iowa, Dec. 21. — By the explosion of the boiler of one of the largest engines on the Rock Island road Engineer M. Calhoun and Fire- max Kinney were killed. Head Brake- man Thomas Gimmet and Trainmen Gus Smith, Russell Sherrod and Geo. Nettleton were injured, Gimmet seri- ously. When the explosion took place the engine, assisted by a helper, was a few miles west of here, pulling a long freight train. SCAFFOLDING GOES DOWN. Four Carpenters Are Injured at Lily Lake Grounds. Stillwater, Dec. 21. — A scaffolding on which four carpenters were at work placing the rafters for the roof at the new amphitheater at the Lily Lake fair grounds fell yesterday morning. The men were precipitated a distance of twenty-four feet to the ground. Peter H. Nelson was unconscious for some time. He struck on his stomach and internal injuries are evident. Richard Billingsley was bruised and injured on his back and side. The two other men were merely shaken up. INDIANS DYING LIKE SHEEP. SHAW’S NARROW ESCAPE. Secretery of Treasury is Struck by a Street Car in Washington. Washington, Dec. 21.—Secretary ‘of the Treasury Shaw had a narrqw es- cape from a Serious injury or possible death yesterday morning when struck by a street car in front of the depart- ment. The fender worked promptly, however. and he was picked up and carried thirty feet, escaping uninjured. TWO DEAD IN WRECK. Sioux City, Iowa, Dec. 21.—Mistak- ing the Great Northern freight train from St. Paul for the Omaha flyer, which was late, C. F. Kemmerer, tow- erman near Hinton, threw the switch wrong, derailing the train, killing En- gineer P. Gilbertson of Willmar, Minn., cutting off both legs of Fireman N. T. Hansen of Sioux City, who died a few hours later, and badly injuring Tcew- erman Kemmerer and Brakeman A. J. Hale of Platteville, Wis. Kemmerer Epidemic of Typhoid, Diphtheria and Other Diseases in the North. Winnipeg, Man., Dec. 21.—Rev. J. S. Emmons, Indian agent at Selkirk, has word from the far northern wilds to the effect that in two months over forty Indians have died around the trading post of the Hudson Bay com- pany at Norway House from a scourge of typhoid, scarlet fever, diphtheria, OF THE NORPHWES®. GEN. CHILDS ASKS FOR DELAY | COMPOSED BR BASE BARD the -Babe onther “bosom ‘tis wig —— —— —— Se oS oe aoe oe Mother aid Woe are “the guests of the kine, Cnessorw \ ante by the monger they see 1s shrine, Alva round the same manger arc kneeling the Kings The Kings are retracing we deserts long mites, Gre Mother 1s weeping. he Holy One smites For she, loSkiog own, sces a cross on 1Be grousd UFhile meMabe takes tHe MurFh thatone of them brings. Ana Re , looking up. Gebolds Kimself crowned Ghese Kings too homoge have coms from ofer rough measureles® Geserts their guide was Goo bright for the sunshine to put out its light Which mode night as doy end made day os night. Boltjeh ete Clams stor, Rote pohr She crown is for Christ in Gils Peaven today The cross.1s on earth, onB on earth it shaw stay Gui Chriet come again and ol sin shall have ceaseds JU itsarms are as wide os the Weer trom the Gost. “And lo, the star which they saw in the east went before them,” whis- pered the boy, gazing upward at its pure white light in the hush of the Holy Night. “But mankind,” said the old man, sadly, “has not followed. In all the Christmas eves since it looked on the shepherds in that field of Bethlehem, it has looked on men doing evil some- where to their fellows. Its light has been dimmed by the lights from camp fires of armies and from flames of burning cities. I am old, and it is weary waiting for the fulfillment of the promise.” “The star is beautiful and splendid,” said the boy with shining eyes. “Undimmed I shine,” said the Star. “And He in whose sight a thousand years are but a day sees mankind look toward me every year with new in- telligence and love. Ages have passed and other ages still must ,be before the Word shall be fulfilled. But every Christmas eve I shine upon a world that has moved forward step by step.” Greater grew the radiance of the Star, until the world sank away, and still and pure it shone over Jerusalem. Whose calm and faithful eyes are these that look toward it from a cell? Stephen lies there, soon to be taken to the city wall and stoned to death. Again it shines upon the Holy City, surrounded now by a Roman army under Titus. Before another Christ- mas eve, Jerusalem shall be no more. The temple of the Most, High shall be razed and Titus leave nothing on Mount Moriah save a little heap of ruins. And again there is a Christmas eve. Six hundred years have passed. The Christian world has fallen far away from the Sermon on the Mount. Hatred and intolerance have dis- torted the cause of Christ into a cause for shedding of blood from Bethlehem to the far isles of Great Britain. Christmas eve, 800 A. D., and Rome is celebrating, the Holy Night with wonderful splendor. Princes and war- riors and priests throng its streets. Greatest prince of them all, before whom even the mighty Charlemagne bows, is the Bishop of Rome, Leo III. This is a Christmas eve destined to do more than any other Christmas eve in many centuries that have been or that are to come, to change the his- tery of the world. For to-night Char- lemagne and his magnificent court have agreed with the bishop that on Christmas day Charlemagne is to be crowned Augustus, Emperor of the West and Protector of Rome. The Holy Roman Empire has begun. Shining for the first time on Christ- mas in the New World, in 1492, the Star sees Columbus and his crew turn toward it from their small craft as they roll in the great blue serges of the tropical ocean off the coast of Hayti. It may be that there is too much Christmas eve cheer aboard the mumps and measles. was recently stationed in the tower. Santa Maria. For before the Star has SS L_o€ STAR IN THE EAST Wondrous Story of t of the Centuries That It Told to the Boy Who Gazed at It. set, she is a hopeless wreck on the rocks of the beautiful island. The Star is to see many cruel things in the New World after that. Its serene beam shines on Montezuma in 1519, a prisoner in thé bloody hands of Cortez. It shines on Cortez again with his men in the next Christmas eve, lying before Tezcuco, which he is to enter and plunder before the end of the week. On the Christmas eve of 1529 and for ten Christmas eves’ thereafter the Star looks on an American Odyssey. It is the Odyssey of Alvar Nunez and his three companions, sole survivors of the expedition of Pamfilo de Nar- vaez, wandering along the northern coast of Mexico, through Texas, to the Rocky Mountains, and thence to Mexico, trying to find a way to take them back to Spain. They spend one. Christmas eve in being worshiped as demigods by a tribe of Indians. They spend many others in working as slaves. Twelve years later the Star shines on Hernando de Soto, lying in camp in the Chickasaw country. It is the second Christmas eve away from his wife, the beautiful Dona Isabella, and he is never to see her again. The Star looks down upon him in 1541, near the Mississippi, with his great expedition scattered and all but de- stroyed, but the dauntless heart of him brave and unfearing. Chrismas eve, 1542, finds no such person as Her- nando de Soto, Captain-General of Cu- ba, Adelantado of Florida, on earth. In 1567 the Star sees a gathering in Antwerp. It is a terrible gathering that conceives a thought of inhuman wickedness and ferocity. Yet out of this Christmas meeting shall a great freedom be born. For it is that of the Spanish rulers in the Netherlands, and at it is adopted the decree of the Inquisition that condemns all the in- habitants of the Netherlands, with but few exceptions, to death. And the War of Liberation follows. It is the first to break the cruel and deadening power of Spain. In the New World the Star looks on the colonists of Jamestown stealing out on Christmas eve, in 1607, to get corn from the Indians by _ strategy. Two years later, Christmas eve sees them suffering grievously for food again. Anno Domini 1620, and the Pilgrim Fathers rest from their labor of build- ing the settlement which they have pegun that morning. Christmas eve, 1675 and 1676, sees war in the New World. In the first year the New Englanders, instead of gathering around sociable fireplaces, are abroad, driving before them the remnants of the Wampanoag Indians, whom they have defeated in a great battle near Narragansett bay; and in 1676 the French are taking Cayenne in Giana, after a stubborn siege. In 1686 the Star shines on grim and moody faces in the town of New York. Sir Edmond Andross, the first royal governor and vice-regent of New Eng- land, has just arrived and is making a roaring Christmas eve of it. . Two years afterward the Star gleams on his royal master, James II., spending his Christmas eve in the French court, a fugitive driven from his throne in England. Sitting with a few companions by a camp fire in the primeval wilderness of Pennsylvania, a young surveyor looks up at it in 1753. He is George Washington, nine days’ journey on his way home from Lake Erie, where he has been to carry a message to the commander of the French that will end finally in the French and Indian war. Indians are prowling on his path that night, but he looks as serenely at the Star of Bethlehem as if he were gazing at it from his home in Virginia. Fourteen years later, two other young surveyors pass a similar Christ- mas eve in the wilderness. They are not to become so famous personally as that other surveyor, but their names are destined to be linked for- ever with a great cause. They are Mason and Dixon, sitting under the Star at the end of their trail. They have reached a warpath and the In- dians have forced them to stop thirty- six miles from their objective point. But they have practically run their line and they finish it on Dec. 26. Christmas eve, 1773, and there are bands and flying banners in Boston. Young and old, mechanics and royster- ers and citizens of substance, are marching together. Singing “God Save the King,” they head straight for the wharves, where two teaships are lying. Some of the chests go over- board, still to the accompaniment of the loyal tune. The others are left on the ships, but the vessels are forced to return home without unloading. Lieut. John Paul Jones, in his new uniform and clothed in his three-day- old dignity as member of the Corps of Naval Officers appointed by Con- gress, swaggers around proudly on Christmas eve in Philadelphia in 1775. Anno Domini 1776 sees 24,000 men crossing the ice-covered Delaware. And in 1777 the Star shines on Val- ley Forge, where men sit around piti- able fires in rags—penniless, hungry, freezing, but unfaltering. Christmas eve, 1783, George Wash- ington has surrendered his commis- sion the day before. For the first time in seven years, he looks up te the Star without heavy care. ongress. Resume of the Week's Proceedings. C Washington, Dec. 15.— Further ac- tion on the impeachment proceedings against Judge Charles Swayne of ‘the Northern district of Florida was taken in the house yesterday by the appoi ment of the committee of seven pr vided for by a resolution adopted Tuesday to draft the charges for pre- sentation to the senate and by the re- ception of the report of the committee to notify the senate of the impeach- ment, who announced that they had performed their duty and the senate had responded that “order shall be taken.” The urgency deficiency bill and several other bills of public nature were passed. The senate, which under the Consti- tution is made the trial court in im- peachment cases, yesterday received official notice of the determination of the house of representatives to pre- sent impeachment charges against Hon. Charles Swayne, federal judge in the Northern district of Florida. The matter was brought to the senate’s at- tention by a house committee and the senate appointed a committee to pre- pare the details of the proposed trial. The senate considered the Philippine government bill and the pure food Dill. Washington, Dec. 16—Discussion of the bill “to improve currency condi- tions” was resumed in the house yes- terday, but throughout the session its advancement was beset with obstruc- tive tactics by the Democrats, led by Mr. Williams of Mississippi, the mi- nority leader. The Democrats mus- tered sufficient strength to force Speaker Cannon to break a tie in or- der that the bill might be taken up, the Democrats assuming their apti- tude of antagonism because Mr. Hill (Conn.), in charge of the bill, refused to postpone its further consideration in consequence of the illness of Mr. Bartlett (Ga.), leader of the oppos tion. The-house made little progress on the measure. The senate spent practically the entire day discussing the Philippine administrative bill. A formal order to enter on the Swayne impeachment proceedings was adopted, but it did not fix a day for beginning the work. Washington, Dec.’ 17.—The senate yesterday by a vote of 44 to 23 passed the Philippine civil government Dill. Mr. McCumber was_ the only Repub- lican who voted with the Democrats against the final passage of the bill. The bill as passed exempts from taxation all bonds issued by the Phil- ippine and Porto Rico governments; authorizes municipalities in the Phil- ippines to incur a bonded indebted- ness amounting to 5 per cent of the assessed valuation of their property at 5 per cent interest; authorizes the Philippine government to incur a bonded indebtedness of $5,000,000 for improvements at 41-2 per cent inter- est; authorizes the Philippine govern- ment to guarantee the payment of in- terest on railroad bonds at the rate of 4 per cent per annum; provides for the adiministration of the immigration laws by the Philippine authorities; establishes a system for the location and patenting of mineral, coal and saline lands; fixes the metric system for the islands and gives the civil governor the title of governor general. During the day Mr. Beveridge, from the committee on territories, reported the statehood bill, and he will make a motion on the first day that the sen- ate convenes in January that the con- sideration of the bill shall be entered on at once. Yesterday’s session of the house was given over almost exclusively to consideration of bills on the private calendar, a dozen or more being passed. The senate amendments io the urgent deficiency bill were agreed to, and adjournment taken until Mon- day. Washington, Dec. 20.—The house of* representatives yesterday emphatical- ly disapproved the proposition to hold the inaugural ball in the capitol build- ing. The committee having the mat- ter in charge had substituted for the pension building as provided by the senate resolution, the congressional library, but Mr. Morrell (Pa.), who called the matter up, announced that the opposition to the latter building was so great the committee had con- cluded to substitute the capitol build- ing. A storm of protests came from both sides of the chamber. The reso- lution offered by Mr. Morrell was voted down, the result being to delay action. unti] the next District of Co- lumbia day in January. The house also voted down a resolution making a special order on Jan. 5 the bill restor- ing to the naval academy three naval cadets who were dismissed for hazing. The senate helfi a session of three minutes yesterday, and without trans- acting any business adjourned until Wednesday. SURRENDERS IN LONDON. Young Man Claims That He Emhez- zled From Springfield, Mo., Bank. London, Dec. 21—The American em- bassy is inquiring at Washington whether Lawrence Innez, a bank clerk, is wanted on charge of embezzlement. Innez, who has given himself up to the London police, says he absconded Oct. 15 with money belonging to the Na- tional Exchange Bank of Springfield, Mo. s aes