Grand Rapids Herald-Review Newspaper, March 24, 1909, Page 2

‘Rerald--Review. AW I DNA BY Cc. E, KILEY. GRAND RAPIDS, - - NEWS OF THE WEEK IN EPITOME Digest of the News Worth Telling Com densed for the Busy Reader. AT THE CAPITAL. President Taft has accepted an in- vitation to attend the annual spring dinner of the Gridiron club in Wash- ington, to be held April 17. The state department has issued a cali to the American consuls in France to report as to whether for eign exporters sell cheaper abroad than at home, Judge G. M. Dallas of the United States circuit court for the Third ju- dicial circuit has sent his resignation to President Taft. Under the law he was eligible to retire, but the an- nouncement of his retirement was un- expected. Maj. Guy Edie of the United States army medical department, who ac- companied Mr. Taft around the world on his now famous tour, is to be the president’s family physician, accord- ing to a well founded rumor. He will replace Rear Admiral P. M. Rixey. North Dakota and South Dakota have been set apart into office field di- visions of the land office. North Da- kota will be known as No. 15, with MINNESOTA. headquarters at Fargo, in charge of| W. S. Wade. South Dakota will be known as No. 16, with headquarters in Huron, in charge of Henry C, Cul- tom. ACCIDENTAL HAPPENINGS. Property valued at $65,000 was de- stroyed and five firemen and a student were injured by falling walls in a fire at Sparstansburg, S. C. Fire at Baltimore did damage esti- mated at $40,000 to the warehouse and contents of the New York and Baitimore Transportation company. An explosion at the Washington Gas Light company’s plant-in Washington resulted in the burning of three men 80 severely it is not thought they will survive. One man was killed and seven in- jured as the result of an explosion of a metal pot in the iron mill of the American Steel and Wire company at Cleveland. One hundred feet of the cornice of the Dreher opera house at Nora Springs, Iowa, fell to the street, in- stantly killing Anton Jensen, who was passing along the street. A fast passenger train on the At- lantic Coast line jumped the track at Pikeville, N. C., shortly after mid- night, killing the engineer and fire- man and Brakeman Offert. Conductor Newell and several passengers were seriously injured, In the midst of merrymong A. B. Gebhart accidentally shot and killed John Maxwell at Pensacola, Fla. Geb- hart was host of an entertainment and was giving an imitation of how he would defend himself from the at- tack of a highwayman, using Maxwell as the supposed highwayman, Col. A. P. Hunter, a mine owner of Albuquerque, N. M.; his daughter, Miss Mildred Hunter, and Miss Ray Phillips, who lives at the Martha Washington hotel in New York, were painfully injured when the automo- bile in which the party were riding collided with a trolley car in Brook- lyn. Others in the party were not badly hurt. FOREIGN. Madrid has been visited by an epi- demic of typhoid fever. Gen. Slavinsky, chief of the prison at Minsk, Russia, was killed in the vicinity of the prison by an unidenti- fied man. Reports received from Fez say that the forces of the pretender Reghi, which are advancing on that city, have defeated the government forces. The St. Petersburg newspaper Russ was confiscated for publishing ex- tracts from Count Leo Tolstoy’s last work, “Christianity and the Death Penalty.” Out of forty-two members of the municipal council of Copenhagen just elected, seven are women. Seven per cent of the candidates elected in the provinces are women. Eugene Brioux, the dramatist, and Raymond Poincare, former minister of finance, have been elected to the French academy to succeed Ludovic Halvey and Nicholas Gebhardt, re- spectively. As finally agreed upon by the coun- cil of ministers, the French -naval es- timate provides for the expenditure of $150,000,000. With the formal accept- ance of this naval program the cabi- net crisis has completely passed. An epidemic of smallpox is said to prevail in Northern Guatemala. Hun- dreds of villages along the Mexican frontier are affected and 3,000 persons have been vaccinated within the last week in an effort to check the dis- ease, 2 Fifteen thousand square miles of territory has been added to the Brit- ish empire by the treaty signed at Bangkok, Siam, under the terms of which Siam cedes to Great Britain the States of Kalantan, Tringan and Ke. dah, which hereafter wil be adminis- tered with the Malay federated states. BOY WW Cl CLEVELAND Police Aveta aa Man, Give Him “Third Degree” and Get on Trail of Boy. ey WHOLE SECTION RANSACKED Millionaire Uncle Assumes Charge of Search—Father Refuses to Publish Letter. Cleveland, March 21.—At midnight the police of this city. were expecting to find within a short time little Wil- lie Whitla, son of the rich attorney of Sharon, Pa., who was kidnapped from his school there Thursday. They then had under arrest a man with whom the boy had been seen in a down- town hotel as late as 9:15 o’clock last night, according to reliable witnesses. This man was given the “third de- gree” for several hours, and, it is said, admitted that Willie Whitla, with others of his captors, was in a lonely suburb of Cleveland. In a fast automobile, a squad of de- tectives started for this point at 11 o’clock, but their search was without result. The officers returned and re- ported they had been unable to find the boy at the address given. Porter Gives the Clue. According to the police, the man who furnished them with the infor- mation is Henry Ball, a porter in a l6cal restaurant. Ball told the officers that a friend who lived at the Hotel Beénway, on Ontario street, met him on the street Thursday night. The friend had the boy with him, saying he was the son of a Mrs, Satchell, and asked Ball to take the child to business place near the Erie depot, where the boy’s father would meet him. Ball received $2 as remunera- tion, he says. He failed to find the father and then proceeded to visit all the hotels, in the hope of locating him. Not succeeding, Ball took the child back to the Hotel Benday and left him. It was to this hotel that the police went last night. Frank H. Buhle, the millionaire un- cle of Willie Whitla, arrived here last night from Sharon and immediately assumed charge of the hunt for his nephew. - Captors Use Big Words. Sharon, Pa., March 20.—J. P. Whit- la, father of the missing boy, last night made this statement: “There is no truth in the Cleveland rumor that my’son has been found, and I hope that the papers of the United States will discount the story, which might tend to discourage fur- ther search.” The lawyer and his close friends and assistants in the kidnapping iIn- vestigation refuse to give out for pub- licity the letter received from the kid- nappers. It is said, however, that the letter contained some striking sen- tences in addition to those made pub- lic. One atieged remark is: “Our per- ceptibilities are as keen ag yours, and we have brains to help us.” It threat- ened instant death to the boy should the letter be made public‘or shown to detectives, according to reports here. It is also intimated that the letters contained something which had to do with the method in which the money was to be paid over to the kidnappers. SPOIL PLANS FOR RETURN OF BOY Overzealous Police Spoil Arrangement Between Father and Kidnappers. Cleveland, March 23.—But for the bungling of a secret letter intended for James P. Whitla, in an ‘Ashtabula hotel Saturday night, Billie Whitla, the Sharon boy, would be safe in the arms of his distraeted parents. All night $10,000 in bills lay be- neath a rock in Flatiron Park, Ashta- bula, left there by Mr. Whitla under instructions from the kidnappers. At 8 o’clock yesterday morning Whitla returned to the rock there, hoping to find his money gone and in its the place the signal that his son would be returned to him in the Smith house, Ashtabula, within the hour. But the money, untouched since he had deposited it there at 9 o’clock Sat- trday evening, was still there. Police Spoil the Plan. Whitla was instructed in a letter from the kidnappers to leave the money in Flatiron Park Saturday night. If no detectives were about the kidnappers promised they would secure the money and deliver the boy safely to the father in a hotel at Ash- tabula at 3 o’clock yesterday morn- ing. Whitla deposited the money as re- quested, but the Ashtabula police learned of the plans to pay the ran- som and went to the park. The kid- nappers are supposed to have seen SHIPLOAD OF ALIEN SPUDS. Philadelphia, March 23.—Sixty thou- sand bushels of foreign potatoes, the largest consignment ever brought to Philadelphia, were landed by the steamship Buenos Ayrean from Glas- gow and Liverpool. The tubers came from England, Ireland and Scotland, and the shipment was made possible by reason of the short crop in the United States. Other liners are due here with big shipments of potatoes. — ae lous “Gl na cae tos cepente s m, for at 8 money” the spot at which it had been left. Whitla had a score of detectives in readiness in this city to start a search for the kidnappers as soon as he had safely secured the boy. Mr. Whitla and the detectives left Sharon last night. A conference is being held in Sharon anq plans are to be made to attempt to capture the kidnappers with the boy in their possession: Whitla believes that the failure to ef- fect a settlement with him Saturday night will frighten the kidnappers and they will not communicate with him again. Believes Efforts Useless. The police of Ashtabula are unwill- ing to believe that the kidnappers have left that section of the country. Although Whitla has instructed them to discontinue their search, as he be- Neves it is useless, they are attempt- ing to find the hiding place of the kidnappers. The letter from the captors of Wil- lie Whitla came to thee boy’s parents in Sharon, Pa., Friday afternoon. In- structions were given Mr. Whitla to go alone to Ashtabula on Saturday night and place the $10,000 under a rock at the base of a gorge in the park at 1 0o’clock. At 3 o'clock on the following morning, if the money was obtained by the kidnappers, they promised that the stolen boy would be sent to the Smith hotel in Ashtabula unharmed. Letter at Smith Hotel. In order that there might be no mis- take made, another letter, it was promised, would be written to Whitla under the name of “C. A. White,” Sat- urday night. He was to receive this letter at the Smith hotel in Ashtabula. The letter was delivered as promised, but after laying uncalled for for about half an hour the clerk opened it, the contents were eommunicated to the police and a guard was placed in Fiat- iron Park, thus ruining the plan for the return of the boy. After five hours of anxious waiting Whitla went to the hotel to get his boy. There he was informed that offi- cers had been on guard at the park all night and that no one had come for the money. Whitla was overcome when this news was broken to him. He went to the park and found his package of money undisturbed. Later, in company with the detect- ives, he returned to Sharon. CANCERS’ TOLL IS APPALLING. Disease Claims Half as Many Lives as Tuberculosis. Albany, N. Y., March 23.—‘“The in- crease in cancer disease in the State of New York is little short of appall- ing. It now takes yearly toll of half as many lives as tuberculosis.” This startling declaration, proved by statistics, is made by Dr. Harvey R. Gaylord, chief of the Buffalo state cancer hospital, in'a report ~& the health department. Dr, Gaylord declares the average death rate for cancer per 100,000 pop- ulation for 1906, 1907 and 1908, taken collectively, is seventy-six,; showing an increase in thirteen years, from 1896 to 1909 of 288 per cent. The average death rate per 100,000 for 1906, 1907 and 1908 for tuberculosis is 16.9, showing a decrease in the last thirteen years of 9.1 per cent. “We well understand why tubercu- losis is decreasing,” says Dr. Gay- lord. “It is the result of eur knowl- edge of the infections of the disease and of the now well organized war- fare which is being opposed to it. Our knowledge of the nature of cancer as a disease is in its infancy, but it is rapidly advancing, and the outlook to- day offers a very bright hope that in the future we shall understand and combat the disease by methods based on tke present experimental re- search,” MURDERED ON BUSY STREET. | Man Stabbed to Death by Companion in Lima, Ohio. Lima, Ohio, March 23.—D. W. Wil- liams of Bellefontaine, Ohio, was stab- bed to death on the most prominent street here Saturday night. The mur- der was witnessed by four pedestrians and the murderer escaped by knocking down two of these witnesses, who at- tempted to stop him. Bloodhounds have been placed on the trail, and it is thought that the murderer will be found. Wiitiams and his murderer were walking along the street together at the time of the attack. Good Times in the Hills. Deadwood, 8, D., March 28—Figures for February, just completed by Treasurer Corum, show that Lawrence | county had better collections than at any time in its histery. Over $200, 000 was coilected by the county, which is $3,000 better than the rec- ord. Embezzlement Is Charge. Duluth, March 23.—Frank E. Hall was brought here from Eveleth, charg- ed with having embezzled $500 from the Eveleth Steam laundry, RRR eeeeeoaeeuc eer“ ee eOOEOTOTE eee Peace in Balkans Assured. Belgrade, March 23.—Peaee is re- garded as assured. It was semi-offi- cially stated last night that the powers today will invite Servia to declare the question of the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina settled and to dis- arm and discharge its reservists. -Furthermore, it is said that the Servia government will accede to this request, thus opening the way for di- rect negotiations between Austria- Hungary and Servia for a commercial agreement, NEW TARIFF BILL ~ READ IN CONGRESS Burden Is Saddled on Luxuries in Measure Presented by Chairman Payne. ADDS $50,000,000 TO REVENUE Inheritance Tax and Treasury Certifi- cates Provided—Coffee Free, Tea Taxed. Washington, March. 18.—The long- expected tariff bill was presented to the house of representatives yester- day by Chairman Payne of the com- mittee on ways and means and re- ferred. Until it is reported out of committee, which Mr. Payne said he hoped would be at an early day, the measure will not become official. Ac- cording to a statement made by him upon the floor, he did not anticipate any committee changes. The Repub- licans manifested their pleasure at the introduction of the bill by vigor- ously applauding. Yield $50,000,000 New Revenue. Downward revision, maximum and minimum provisions which impose an average maximum duty of 20 per cent in excess of the present tariff, and nu- merous provisions by which it is esti- mated that the revenue to the gov- ernment will be increased from $40,- 000,000 to $50,000,000, are the salient features of the new tariff bill. The bill, it is estimated, will produce $300,- 000,000 revenue from customs. The recommendations made by President Taft that an inheritance tax be provided and that a limited amount of tobacco and sugar be admitted free from the Philippines are included in the bill. The principal features of the bill are: tee eororeooeoooHHooeoe NEW TARIFF BILL. Provision for issuance of $40, 000,000. Panama canal bonds and for issuance of $250,000,000 treas- ury certificates, Coffee on free list. bd Tea taxed 8 cents a pound. Inheritance tax. Limited amount of sugar and tobacco from Philippines comes in free. Internal revenue tax on beer and whisky not disturbed, Internal revenue tax on ciga- rettes materially increased. Wood pulp on free list. Duty on printing paper re- duced. Steel and lumber schedules cut 50 per cent cut. $$ oh ooo ee eee oe Hides, tallow and cottonseed oil free. Shoes and leather goods cut 50 per cent. Wool unchanged; third-class wooPcut. Duty on refined sugar cut 5-100 of a cent a pound. Agricultural implements free on reciprocal basis. Duty on window glass raised. Increases made principally on luxuries. Tax on fifty articles in sched- ule of chemicals, paints and oils reduced. ‘Among fifty-four articles of wide range on which duty is re- duced are the following house- hold commodities: Sugar, bar- ley, bacon and hams, lard, tal- low, starch, thread, yarns, car- pets, mats, shirt collars and cuffs and most leather products. FESTHEHH HSH HSH Se HHS se esse eee se se see ese eee eee eee eetse PAS ARSUASATASAY SADA SAUER SSS I-9 VAR TSAT EYEE SEVER Pee eeooe Result of Hard Work. Mr. Payne presented the bill as the product of five months’ work by the ways and means committee, of which he is chairman, and nearly a year of his own labors. The bill contains about 100,000 words and is therefore twice as large as the Dingley law. It represents the judgment of the committee based on over 8,000 pages of printed testimony, 30,000 letters and all known statis- tics bearing on the subject. Messrs. Bartlett of Georgia and James of Kentucky made good their caucus pledge not to accept a com- mittee appointment unless first ap- proved of by their minority leader, Mr, Clark of Missouri, and flatly re- fused to serve on the committee on mileage, the membership of which was announced by the speaker. No objection was made because of Mr. Bartlett’s attitude, but it required a vote of the house before Mr. Jones was excused by the speaker, although it was manifest that the vote was overwhelming against excusing him. *At 12:35 p. m. the house adjourned. Horse’s Kick Kills Farmer. Férgus Falls, Minn., March 18.—Ot- tin O. Sietvold, a farmer of this vi- cinity, died yesterday from being kicked’ by one of his horses. ARR IS EE Prohibits Treating. Sacramento, Cal., March'18. — The assembly yesterday passed a bill mak- ing it a misdemeanor for one man to treat another in a saloon. Historian of Confederacy Dead. Columbus, Ga., March 18.—Dr. John William Jones, who by his historical works and close association with Rob- ert E. Lee and Gen. Stonewall Jack- son, gained,the title of “Historian of the Confederacy,” died late yesterday at the home of his son, aged seventy- Repeats _ Suggestion heritance Tax—Tariff Ques- tion Is Paramount. Washington, March 18.—In striking contrast to the scenes of confusion, disorder and acrimonious debate which marked the opening day of the house, the session of that body yester- day assumed its wonted air of dignity. There was general good feeling among the members, whose main top- ic of conversation was the fight Mon- day over the rules. The anticipated message of President Taft, pointing out the necessity for a revision of the tariff was received and met with prolonged applause from the Repub- licans. President Taft’s Message. The message follows: I have convened the congress in this extra session in order to enable it to give immediate consideration to the revision of the Dingley tariff act. Conditions affecting production, manu- facture and business generally have so changed in the last twelve years as to require a readjustment and revi- sion of the import duties imposed by that act. More than this, the present tariff act, with the other sources of government revenue, does not furnish income enough to pay the authorized expenditures. By July 1 next the ex- cess of expenses over receipts for the current fiscal year will equal $100,- 000,000. Pledged to Revision. The successful party in the late election is pledged to a revision of the tariff. The country, and business community especially, expect it. The prospect of a change in the rates of import duties always causes a suspen- sion or halt in business because of the uncertainty as to the changes to be made and their effect. It is, there- fore, of the highest importance that the new bill shauld be agreed upon and passed with as much speed as possible consistent with its due and thorough consideration, For these reasons I have deemed the present to be an extraordinary oc- casion, within the meaning of the con- stitution, justifying and requiring the calling of an extra session. Tariff Paramount Question. In my inaugural address I stated in a summary way the principles upon which, in my judgment, the revision of tariff should proceed and indicateql at least one new source of revenue that might properly be resorted to in or- der to avoid a future deficit. It is not necessary for me to repeat what I then said, I venture to suggest that the vital ‘business interests of the country re- {quire that the attention of the con- gress in this session be chiefly de- ‘voted to the consideration of the new ‘tariff bill and that the less time given {to other subjects of legislation in this ‘session, the better for the country. : Some disappointment was felt over jthe fact that the tariff measure was mot presented. This, it is expected will be done today. In the Senate. The reading of the president’s mes- sage to congress in favor of a revision of the tariff was the chief business {before the senate yesterday. The mes- jSage received careful attention from senators. After the adoption of a mo- tion that the senate should not meet again until next Friday an adjourn- ment was taken at 12:18 o'clock. Lue BLOW CAUSES LOSS OF SPEECH. —_— . Ten-year-old North Dakota Boy Is Learning to Talk Again. Grand Forks, N. D., March 21.—As a result of being kicked by a mule, the ten-year-old son of Jacob Bisbee of Devils Lake must learn to talk over again. His skull was broken and a successful operation was performed to take out pieces of bone. The part of the brain affected was the faculty of talking, and the nurses at the hos- pital have commenced to teach the boy to speak. »Mangled Under Car Wheels. Minneapolis, March 21.—An uniden- tified man was mangled and killed beneath Soo Line train No. 108 in Minneapolis ‘yesterday. He stepped off the train just as it was starting after coming to a full stop for the junction, and slipping on the icy bank rolled under the wheels. Bound Over for Theft. Cass Lake, Minn., March 21.—John Carmody was arrested at Bena yester- day charged with grand larceny. He was given a hearing and bound over to the grand jury. Kills Wrong Man. Chicago, March 21. — Policeman Alexander Scott last night shot and killed Joseph Finn, a laborer, whom he mistook for “Pickles” Gilroy, a man being sought by the police, Bishop Gillespie Dead. Grand Rapids, Mich., March 21. — Bishop George D. Gillespie of the Protestant Episcopal diocese of west- ern Michigan, died early yesterday after a long illness, Volcano in Eruption. San Salvador, Republic of Salvador, March 20.—Izaleo, a volcano in Salya- dor known as the “lighthouse of the Pacific,” is reported to be in violent eruption. Izalco is ten miles north of Sonsonate. oS REPUBLICAN _ PARTY ncn COOPERS GUILTY OF CARMACK MURDER Father and Son Are Sentenced to Twenty Years in the , Penitentiary. pas a FRIENDS RUSH TO SIGN BONDS Wealthy Citizens Swamp Clerk of Criminal Court—Motion for New Trial Will Be Made. Nashville, Tenn., March 23.—After filing a bond totaling nearly a mil- lion and a half dollars, Col. D, B. Cooper and Robin J. Cooper, convict- ed of murder in the second degree and sentenced to twenty years in the penitentiary for the killing of former United States Senator E. W. Car- mack, retired to the home of Judge J. C. Bradford Saturday night and dis- cussed the next move in the case. Although Judge Hart fixed the bond at $25,000 for each defendant, there was a rush to sign it on the part of wealthy citizens of Nashville, which fairly swamped the clerk in the crim- inal court. In vain he protested over and over again that more than enough sureties had been signed, but the in- variable answer was: “We want to put our names on that bond, too.” Trial Lasts Sixty Days. The trial has lasted sixty days The jury was out seventy hours and twelve minutes. John D. Sharp had been acquitted the day before. The Coopers received thee vrdict without emotion. The jury reached an agreement at daybreak. The original ballot, taken within a few minutes after the jury retired, showed one juror for murder in the first degree, three for murder in the first degree with mitigating cir- cumstances, one for acquittal and the rest for punishments varying from ten to twenty years’ imprisonment in the state penitentiary, Within a few minutes all were brought to an agreement as to the guilt of the defendants Cooper, but disagreed .as to the punishment. There was not at any time the ques- tion of the conviction of John Sharp. Will Probably Go to High Court. Saturday, April 3, the motion for a new trial will probably be entered and argued before Judge Hart. He will probably “deny the motion and the ease will be appealed to the supreme court. CANNED GOODS KILL WOMAN. Husband and Three Children Also III at Galva, lowa. Galva, Iowa, March 23.—Mrs. John F. Koplin, a well known woman of this place, is dead, and her husband and three children are critically sick as a result of ptomaine poisoning caused by eating canned goods. Mrs. Koplin died after an illness of two days. The husband's condition is very critical indeed, but it is thought that the children may recover. The entire family was taken with cramps in the bowels and fits of vom- iting. Carrie Nation Returns. New York, March 23.—Jack Binns, who has been acclaimed the hero of the spectacular wreck of the steam- ship Republic; Carrie Nation, who has been abroad pursuing her life work of fighting the saloon and Sir Andrew Prazer, a prominent official in British colonial service in India, were pas- sengers aboard the steamer Baltic, which arrived here late yesterday. Farmers Fight Pure Milk Law. Waukesha, Wis., March 23.—At a meeting of 800 milk shippers from Milwaukee, Waukesha and other coun- ties it was decided to fight the Mil waukee ordinance which forces farm- ers shipping milk to the city to have certificates that their cattle are free from tuberculosis. They will fight a state law on the same subject. Costs $50 to Give Pike Away. Pepin, Wis., March 23.—Wisconsin Game Warden Sprichtman arrested Louis Malmquist for taking pike out of his nets and giving them away to a farmer. He was tried at Maiden Rock and fined $50 and costs. This is Malmquist’s second offense. The farmer was also arrested, but his trial was postponed. Alleged Swindler Goes Free. Bau Claire, Wis., March 23.—Harry A. Gowdy, charged with obtaining money by false pretenses in an ad- vertising enterprise, was discharged in the circuit court on the ground that the alleged false representations made by him were not the inducing cause of the complainant parting with his money, Sentenced and Fined. New York, March 23.—Francis Pah mieri, president of the Co-operative Securities company of this city, wha was convicted of using the mails ta defraud investors, was sentenced to three months in the penitentiary ang to pay a fine of $250. Half Toothpick Is Fatal. Baltimore, March 23.—Half a tooth pick swallowed nearly a month ago was responsible for the death of Wik Yiam F, Murbach. Blood poisoning re sulted « a i] '