Norwich Bulletin Newspaper, July 23, 1913, Page 1

VOL. LV.—NO. 1 ¥, FIFTY 0 QUICKNESS OF FLAMES PREVENTED ESCAPES Fire Drill, Fire Escapes, Life Under the Existing Conditions—Firemen Unable to Ge\t Near Burning Building—Official of the Concern, Attri- butes the Blaze to an Employe’s Cigarette e e Binghamton, N. Y., July 22.—Fifty persons were killed, avcord: to late estimates, and many injured, a doz- en of them mortally, in a fire ‘which swept the four story factory building of the Binghamten Clothing company this afternoon. The victims were chief- 1y women and girls. - At midnight twenty-six-bodies thad | been recovered. - In the city ! tal and in private institutions are thirty injured. Some two score persons %:e known to have ed as by a fln cle from the building, which burst’into flame like a tinder box and becamie a roaring furnace almost in no time'after the first alarm was sounded® Many Still in Red Het Ruins.’ About 125 persons were in the fac- tory when the fire broze out. The un- accounted for, or most of them, are believed to be still in the red hot ruins of the structure. 3 Around the scene of the catastrophe— the greatest this city has ever known—. thousands tonight watched the resew-'| ers work in the glare of three big searchlights, many in the great throng being restrained only by the clogely drawn police lines. from rushing into the ruins in an effort to find the bodies of relatives or friends. ° Water In many streams is being = |of the men employes. FAGTORY HOLOGAUST Four Story Building of Binghamton Clothing Company , Suddenly Becomes Roaring Furnace Nets or Ladders of Little Use and it was among these that the loss of life and injury was greatest. Fainted at Sight of Fiames. Mary McDonough was on the fourth | flgor, at her machine, when the fire {broke out. The employes on that floor thought the alarm was for a re drill and marshalled in line slowly. en the flames burst upon them many fainted and a panic ensued. Miss McDonough also swooned. She believes she was carried out by one She was un- {injured. She said the flames spread 80 rapidly there was no time for any concerted rescue work or for the reg- ular fire drill march to be carried out. | Girls Frantic with Pain. Vernon Wilbur, superintendent service in the burned shop, said: “Lynn Dibble and I ran to the fire escape and climbed up our ladder. We dropped twe girls to the men below. They were standing five or six deep in each window with the flames wav- ing directly behind them. They were mad with pain and the sound of their cries was as if the wind were howling in our ears.” As soon as the firsti of the fire vic- tims were brought to the hospital con- valescents among the regular patients were set to work tearing up bandages; of poured into the«flery pit that a few hours ago was the cellur of the burned establishment. As the ruins were cool- ed a bit from time to time in a spot upon which the streams were centered, men went forward to dig as long as hu- man endurance would allow them to work. Occagionally a body was found and taken quickly away. Started by Cigarstte or Match, This work will go on ail’night and perhaps all day tomorrow, before the glowing mass gives up its last dead.. It will take at least two days, the author- ities believe, before the cellar can be eleared and the whole truth of the dis- aster revealed. The big outstanding fact of the ca- tastrophe is ifs suddenness. In this the disaster bears a strong resemblance to the Triangle Waist €ompany holo- caust in New York city, where 147 lives were lost when the inflammable ma- terizl upon which the employves were w and the waste which littered the floors blazed witn inconcelvable vapidity and set the impi ‘Work- ‘ers jimuing from the windows' to their déath. The parallel here fails only in the lesser height and diffefent con- struction of the building and in the <length of the Nst of dead and injured. Another resemblance to the New York disaster was that the fire today is be- lleved to have been started by the careless throwing away of a cigarette butt or match. Had Had Regular Fire Drills. In the tragedy of this afternoon the killing burst of flame followed quickly upon the heeis of the alarm. There was small opportunity for any person to use the ordinary or even the emer- gency means of escape. Fire drills had been carried on regularly. In faect, so regularly that the empioves found them monotonous. The building was equipped with fire escapes and an automatic alarm sys- tem. The alarm tinkled at 2.30 o'clock. Mrs. Reed B. Freeman, wife of the proprietor, telephoned to the central fire station. The usual apparatus for a first stil alarm responded. Som ex- cited person at. Warren and Chenango streats, four blocks away, saw a burst of flame and pulled the box there. The rest of the companies ran to the false alarm. Flames Too Quick to Escape. That meant ten minutes of delay for part of the firemen. But even those who arrived first were unable to do anything. The first puff of flame was hardly discerned before the fire leaped along the stair cascs, up the walls, up the elevator shaft and along the floors and ceiling. There | was a roar, front and rear, and the flames belched forth clear across Wall sireet, on which the building fronted, withering the shade trees on the river bank and scorching a building' across an alley at the rear. After this flerce blast the fire seem- ed 1o burst from every part of .the building at once. Upon the fire es- cape girls, women and men were clusiered and inside others were wait- ing to get on to the iron ladders. But the flames were too quick for them. Life Nets and Ladders Useless. The slow starting of the fire drill may have contributed to the holocaust. The delay in getting all the firemen to the scene may have been responsi- ble for part of the loss of life. But persons who were early on the scene say that these things did not materi- ally affect the result. When the firemen came in response to the telephone alarm they were un- able to get within 200 feet of the burning building and the e nds of the streams from their hose were turned into steam and had no more effect upon the fire than a spray of vapor upon a volcano in action. Life nets, and extension ladders were useless. There was no chance of escape for those caught on the upper floors, ex- cept the chance of jumping, and this many took, while others fell, shrivel- ling and crumpied with the heat. Women Fainted by Dozens, Scarcely one of the survivors was able to give a connected account of what occurred on the upper floors of the factory when the employes thers, mostly women and girls realized that the fire call was no false alarm and that death was sweeping down upon them. The coolest among them recall- ed that women fainted by dozens and that a scene of indescribable confu- sion occurred. Some of the men em- ployes seem to have kept their heads and to have done their best to rescue the imperilled wi . ¢ ‘The fire escapes were not big enough to hold all ‘whe rushed madly to the exits and there was a scramble for the windows. Heavy Loss of Life on Fourth Floor. Then from windows and fire es- capes bodies began dropping. They fell thick and fast. The bullding was but four stories high and many who jumped, even from the it floor escaped with their lives. although most of them were badly maimed. It was on the ‘fourth floor that most of the womeg operators were. working physicians- sawed up every available board for splints to bind up the broken limbs and ministers: came to offer spiritual consolation to the desperately injured. % Sustained a Broken Spine. Never before in the history of Binghamton has such a socene he¢n enacted in the local hospital and de- spite the fact that the injured and dying lay all about, the doctors and narses worked with amazing rapidity and coolness. Scarcely an hour after the fire every one of the patients there had been attendéd to and made as comfortable as possibl Most of them were badly burned anfl were swathed in bandages from head to foot. One of the most pathetic cases at the hospital is that of Miss Ruth Crotty who is slowly dying with a broken spine. Miss Crotty came here a week ago from Port Jervis to work with her twe sisters, neither-of whom, S0 far as can be learned, escaped from the fire, ; * Jumped from Window. “When I first. heard ‘the dlarm of fire,” said Miss, Crotty, “I~ jumped from my chalr and started for the stairs, but when I reached them they ‘were 80 crowded with the other opera- tors that I could not get down. In another instant the whole story was ablaze.” 3 Miss Crotty jumped from a' window. Beside the glowing ruins of the over- all factory lie the twisted irons of what were the fire escapes from which victims dropped like flies: when the flames flared out of the windows and came billowing back along the walls under the impulse of the wind and back-draft. About them is likely tg center a searching inquiry as to their adequaey to serve the purpose for which they were erected. Two Iron Fire Escapes. Theré were two iron fire escapes and to these employes crowded when es- cape by the stairs was seen to be cut off. The fire escapes were soon loaded but the fire spread so rapidly that those who had sought safety by means of them could not get to the ground before the heat became téo great for them to endure it. Mrs: Ida Prentice jumped from one of the windows on the fourth floor. “When the fire alarm sounded the girls hesitated,” said Mrs. - Prentice. “I called to the operators to get out as soon as possible. Then the flames burst upon us. 1 was nearly smoth- ered, and hanging to the steam pipe ! was barely able to make my way to the ! window. Here 1 wrapped an awning about ‘'me and jumped. Before I jumped T looked back and saw scores of girls. There must have been many left to burn alive.” . Woman Jumps Four Stories. Mrs. Mary Quick, jumped from the second story, sustaining a strained back, sprained arm and bad burns. She nJ%o suffered severely from shock. Mary Bennett, a young employe, re- ceived a broken pelvis and two broken thighs. Besides she was badly burned. Mrs. Mary Leighton jumped from the fourth story window when she saw all retreat was cut off, but only after she had been seriously burned about the head, arms and upper part of her body. It is thought she was among those who leaped for their livesf from the upper stories. Her face is so disfigured that it scarcely resembles that of a human being. i Mrs. Alvin White suffered a frac- ture of both legs below the knees and was otherwise badly injured. She died at the hospital with her husband at her bedside. Majority of Victims Americans. Much difficulty was encountered in compiling even a partial list of the dead and injured tonight because the roster of employes was kept in the safe ‘which is buried beneath the ruins, Of the twenty Dpercent. of foreigners emploved, some were Ttal- ians, some Polish and some Jewesses. But the great majority of the victims were Americans. Some of them had been with the company thirty-one years. Reed B. Freeman, president of the company which operated the factory, said tonight that he believed it was a cigarette smoker who was responsi- ble for the disaster. Cigarette Fiend Blamiid. “Some of our employes are so ad- dicted to the cigarette habit that, smoking being forbidden in the build- ing, they went out into the alley every hour or so for a puff,” said Mr. Free- man. “I believe that one of these, on returning to his work, threw the butt of his cigarette under the stairway.” “Every regulation of the fire laws was complied with{” continued Mr. ¥reeman. “It is not true that the floors were covered with lint and oth- or inflammable materfal. They were all kept carefully swept and the only in- flammable things in the building were the piles of garments.” i Other Buildings Damaged. l The fire, besides destroying the Bing- hamton Clothing Company builing, burned the roof off the Federal build- Another French Aviator Killed. Chalons, France, July 22-—Ano melon, near here. by b Suffragettes Burn a Mansion. London, July posted in the vicinity bearing words “Asquith is to blame! Mrs. Pankhurst!™ Chinese Trade Suffers. Canton, China, July independence of the Kwang-Tung. In this province city sign goods here for the present. OHIO TOWNS BAN THE DIAPHANOUS GOWN Also Tabooed. Uhrichsville, O., July ous, form -clinging, will not be worn in this city.. Neither will the expose skirt erated. stringent, women’s hose will be of sub- 22.—Diaphan- » be tol- stantial thickness and guaranteed to be broof against penetration by natural At least that is what the chier 4ight. of police, Harris S. Cummins, said yes- terday. . Mr. Cummins is not a whit backward about expressing himself on the ques- tion of regulating women’'s gowns. Fur- ther, the chief is backed by the city council, which has ordered him to pro- seen on the street which, in his opin- ion, is offensive to the chaste and un- sullied sensibilities of the town’'s men and women. Must Sew Up Slits. Lima, O. July 22—Silhouette and light gowns, slit skirts and wet bath- ing suit drapery effects were subject to verbal castigation by Mayor Corbin N. Shook in the municipal court yes- terday, when he imposed a fine of $25 and costs upon & young woman who said she was M Shedrick, 22 years old, of New Yérk, and who tripped down South Main street yesterday af- ternoon with a slit in her skirt ex- tending above the knees, “As long as I am mayor of Lima slit skirts or any other immodest garb will not be permitted,” 'declared the mag- istrate. A crowd of nearly 500 persons trafil- ed the young woman across the pub- lic square. She was put under arrest vesterday, but she was not .allowed to wear the stylish garb in court, ‘and when she entered tle room she wore a black apron. The stern mayor glanced over his gpectacles at her. “Bring in the duds, chief,” the- mayor directed. Chief Ernst held up té him the sun- light waist and the slit skirt. Sentence was pronounced, and the young woman paild. Her dresg was confiscated as a curiosit: S “We draw the line on pajamas on the street,” said Chief Ernst, ““and they have to sew up those slit skirts, be- calse we're not running an att museum ‘here in {Lima.” ¥ REVENUE COLLECTOR FOR 'CONNECTICUT - DISTRICT, Secretary of Trnnur)" to Give Hearing to Candidates Today. (Special. to The Bulletin.) ‘Washington, July- 22—The secretary of the treasury has notifled the mem- bers of the Connecticut delegation that he will give a hearing tomorrow, Wed- nesday, to the candidates for the po- sition of Revenue collector for the dis- trict of Connecticut. Mr. Walsh, of Meriden, the candi- dates endorsed by Representatives Reilly, Mahan and Donovan is already here and Miles Connely, of Waterbury endorsed ' by Representative Kennedy, is expected 'this evening. If is ex- pected that the two candidates from Hartford, Dr. McManus, and Edward Dix have been notified by Representa- tive Lonergan and will be present. NEW HAVEN V\;E)MAN 1 ACCUSED OF PERJURY Wag Important Witness in a Water- bury Arson Case. New Haven, Conn., July 22.—Charged with perjury in connectlon with the long drawn-out Soloway and Katz ar- son trial, Miss Dora Podoloff .of thig ¢ity, one of the important witnesses, was arrested late this afternoon by Sergeant Ward of New Haven and De- tective Keegan of Waterbury. She was taken to Waterbury tonight in an au- tomobile. The complaint was drawn un by Prosecuting Attorney -McGrath of Waterbury. Steamship Arrivals. Genoa, July 18—Arrived. steamer Luisiana, New York.” London, July 22—Arrived, steamer Minneapolis, New York. Antwerp, July 22—Arrived, Zeeland, New York. Liverpool, July 22—Arrived, steamer Bohemian, Boston. Philadelphia, July 22—Arrived, steamer Breslau, Bremen. . Steamers Reported by Wireless. Fastnet, July 22—Steamer Caronia, New York for Liverpool, signalted 286 miles west at 6:40 p. m. Due Queens- town 1:30 p. m. Wednesday. ing, damaged the buildings of the Mc- kellor Drug company, Simon O'Neal and the Binghamton Motor Car com- pany,"on Water street. Christ church also was scorched. The total money damage is not expected to exeeed $100,000. The Identified Dead. At 11 o'clock tonight the identified dead were: Mary Cregin. Mary Pryon. Miss Fulmer. Mrs. Edwin (or Alvin) White, Some of the Missing. . Among the missing are the follow- ng: Nellie Connors. Mr. Decker. Sidney Dimmick. Mrs. Thomas Doran. Mrs, Nellle Gleason. Louise Hartmann. Miss Margaret Diamond. Miss Lena Kennedy. Miss Button. John Schermerhorn, Partial List of Injured. The list of injured includes: Mrs. 1da Prentiss. Mrs. Margaret Quick. Esther Raskin. Estella Asler. Mrs. Mary Bennett, Miss Ruth Crotty, Port Jervis, Miss Edna Crotty. Port Jervis, Miss Lucy Crotty, Peort Jervis, slightly injured. Miss Ida Hotaling. Mrs. Mary -Leighton. Jared Orr, slightly injured. r French military raviator was killed'to- day and his comrade slightly injured while experimenting with a new aero- plane at thearmy aerodrome at Mour- 22—A militant suf- fragette “arson squad” last night set fire to a large unoccupied mansion at Perry Bar, near Bidmingham, and it burned to the ground.. Placards were the Reloasd 22—Trade throughout Southern China has been dislocated by the proclamation of th: 0] great anxiety has been created, stores have been closed, and many merchants have telegraphed to shippers not to conm- §lit Skirt and Cobweb Stocking Are slashed gowns And to make the edict more ceed against the wearer of any gown ; HIS - WATSON WITHDRAWS AGAINST Watson Not Member of House At Time Alleged by Lobbyist in His Original Testimeny Monday. ‘Washington, July 22.—Martin M. Mulhall, professed ex-lobbyist for the National Association of Manufacturers, today retracted the most serious charge he has made before the senate investigating committee. FHe swore yesterday .that former Representative James E. Watson of Indiana had been emploved by private interests in 1909 while he was still a member of the house, to work for a tariff commis- sion bill. He testified today that what he had sworn to yesterday was wrong; that Watson was not a member of the house at the time. : ' Rumors of Criminal Libel. - Reports that Watson, who is_in ‘Washington, was about to ask a Dis- trict of Columbia grand jury to in- dict Mulhall for criminal libel were heard about the investigating room all morning. Mulball volunteered his re- traction shortly after the noon recess. He sald he realized his mistake when he saw the date of a tariff convention to be held in Indimtapol!s in Febru- ary, 1908: Thg committee did not ques- tion Mulhall about the discrepancy in his sworn testimony. but Watson is already under subpoena and will take the stand later. Cardinal Gibbons Mentioned. Just before the close of the session today the Mulhall letters began to re- fer to efforts to secure Cardinal Gib- bons, presiding bishop Daniel F. Tuttle of the Episcopal Church of America; Ambassador James Bryce, the late Justice Brewer, Vice President Sher- man, Senators Borah and Dolliver and other prominent men to speak in St. Louis during a course of lectures to be given by the Citizens Industrial as sociation. Cardinal Gibbons was me tioned in several letters between Mul- hall and F. C. Schwedtman, secretary for President Van Cleave of the Na- tional Association of Manufacturers. Finally Chairman Overman asked for an explanation, ’ ‘Saw the Cardinal Once. “T don't belleve I saw the cardinal on that mission. I only saw him once—" Mulhall said the association was or- ganized for the purpose of giving edu- cational lectures and for keeping the side of the people interested in it be- fore the public. : ‘Has it anything to do with lobby ork?” he was asked, ; i “Yes, gir, it was organized to pro- tect its members or te work for leg- islation it wanted.” “Legislation aga t ‘labor?” £ ‘“Yes sir. Legisiation against labor.” Cardinal Unaware of Its Purpcse. “Is<it on the same line as the Na tional Council for Industrial Defense?” Mulhall swore it was and that it ‘was a constituent member of that or- ganization. ‘ “Cardinal Gibbong and those other distinguished “men did not know what the association wanted them to make lectureg for—they didn't know the real ohject of the organization, did they?” asked Senator Nelson. “No -sir,” sald Mulhall. The com- mittee’ did not ask him further about the one visit he said he had made upon the cardinal. Claimed to Have Won Danbury Priest. When Mulhall was up, in Danbury, Conn., in June, 1909, working on the famous strike gf the Danbury hatters, he wrote ‘Schwedtman about the Rev. Father Shanley of that city: “T have had several long interviews with him and have won him over as a warm friend. Father Shanley is one of the most noted Catholic clergymen in the east.” He added that Father Shanley, he was sure, would be delighted to de- liver—a lecture in St. Louis. | l | n CARNEGIN “BOMB” PROVES TO BE S8COTCH CHEESE. Police Discover Its Harmless Character by Use of Rifle. New York, July 22—The mystery of the “bomb” which somebody sent to Andrew Carnegie vesterday in care of the secretary of the Carnegie corpora- tion, who promptly turned it over to the police, who as promptly turned it over to the bureau of combustibles, wes solyed today. Tt was a juicy cheese ehclosed in a smell-proof case of -zinc—a. Scotch cheese, according to a cheese expert, called into confer after the bureau had definitely de- termined that the ‘“bomb™” contained neither nitro-glycerine, dynamite, nor other deadly explosive. After deliberating most of the day as to what method should be used te determine the contents of the “bomb” without causing an ~explosion that would injure anybody, the officials of the ‘bureau of combustibles took the “infernal machine” this afternoon te a vacant lot. " There, from a safe distance, while an immense crowd waited with their fingers tn their ears expecting an awful report, one of the officials leveled a riffe at the bomb and perforated it with a bullet. A thick yellow substance oozed from the hole and that was all that happened. Four more bullets were fAred into the bomb and still silence reigned. Soon, however, a pungent odor became per- ceptible and even the laymen present were able to recognize the true nature of the “bomb.” / The cheese was returned to the Car- egie corporation tonight resembling more the Swiss product than the { Scoteh. COLORED CONVICTS PERISH IN A FIRE. Thirty-five Prisoners Td—-ot Death at a Prison Farm, Jackson, Miss., July 22.—Fighteen charred bodies were removed today from the ruins of the convict cage at the Oakley state prisoa farm, where 35 negro convicts perished in a fire early today. The bodies were found massed together in the corner farthest from the point of the fire's origin. ‘When the alarm was given all pos- sible means of escape for the Impris- oned men had been cut off and the 3% perished in less than an hour. Sergeant John Doolls, in charge of the farm, belleves the fire was caused by spontaneous combustion among a lot of bay, rmolesses and other farm products under a stairway. The cor- oner's jury found that the 35 persona came to thelr death by an unavofdable acecident. vietims were Many of the life sentences. CLAIMS IT (A MISTAKE £ d | again. 5 wor s Eugene V. Debs, the So/ st Leader, : is il in Tet:, daute, Ind. CHARGE | i ',N,w\ivc,vl'( City Barbers a at his home in ks During 1913 24 British Peers have died to date, against 21 during the whole of 1#12 All American missjonaries in Sofla, Bulgaria, are safe, according to a State ment report. The Police of Pittsburg intend to form a wunion under the rules of the American Federation of Labor The Waukegan, Ill, plant of the Corn Product Refining Company em- ploying 500 men, was closed yesterday for an indefinite period. There should be about 900 miles of government built railroad in Alaska in the opinion of Secretary of the Inter- for, Franklin K. Lane. There is some probability that within a short time Oshkosh, Wis., will join the ranks of American cities having women on tueir police force. | Forest fires are raging fiercely be- tween Tete Jaune, Cache and Jasper, in Yellow Head Pass, of the Rockles, and much of the country has been devastated. A committee appointed by the planters of .Jamaica to protest against a duty on bananas in the new tariff bill arrived at New York, from the West Indies yesterday. Surgeons in a Washington hospital are marveling at e remarkable vital- ity of Edward H. Elwood who has lived 36 hours with what has been dJdiagrosed as a broken neck. Joseph Belli was arrested yesterday charged with the larceny of $20,000 from the W. H. Blodgett Product Company of Worcester, by which he ‘was employed ‘as a salesman. Desk Sergeant John C. Daley of the Lackawanna Police force is .dying from injuries received when he swerved his motorcycle into the curb to aveid hitting several little girls. Two more justices for the supreme cour. vere proposed in a bill yestérday by Representative. Rupley of Pennsyl- vania. It would provide for a chief justice and ten associate justices. Fifteen persons were injured vyes- terday, three seriously, when a, Colum- bus, Delaware and Marion traction car crashed tbrough a temporary bridge over the Olentangy river at Stratford, near Columbus, Ohio. The widows of Wilfred B. Frost, bigamist, whose death on Feb. 27, ax- posed his double life, yesterday began life " over again. With their four children, they took up their residence on the North Side, Chicago. A ‘piece of Grecian sculpture alleged to be 3,000 years old and of priceless value, and which is said to have been stolen 15 years ago from the National Museum at Athens, was found in a cellar at Baltimore yesterday. The offici of several Rhode Island rie‘ Railroad 5. ,Will Arbitrate BUT WANTS WAGE INCREASE DEFERRED TO 1915 ALL DAY CONFERENCE Federal Mediators Discuss Situation with Road’s Vice President—Decision Announced Last Night. New York, July 22.—The Erie road informed the board of mediation and ‘concillation tonight that it would re- turn to the conference committee of managers that is handling the eastern roads' side of the controversy involving the threatened strike of 80,000 train- men and conductors. Through Presi- dent F. D. Underwood it was announc- - ed thaj the system was prepared to accept any awards that might be made by any federal arbitration board ap- pointed under the Newlands act. Day Devoted to Erie Road. The Erie tangle was cleared ap after a day of conferences, during which the mediators put. aside, for the time, the larger proposition of getting the roads apd their men together as to what de- mands are to be submitted for arbitra- The Erie’s position this morning was that it could not afford to grant the wage increase demanded from all the roads in general. On this ground the road last week withdrew from the managers’ conference, with a resuit that the committee representing the employes informed the mediators that a strike would be called against it if its position remained unchanged. Erie Vice President at Conference. Erie was in conference with the medi- Eriet was inconference with the medi« ators this afternoon. Judge William L. Chambers, head of the federal board, placed the tarinmen’s position before him and advised him of the importance of a return by the Erie to the man- agers’ conference. Mr. Stuart after the meeting com- municated by telegraph with President Underwood, who is on a fishing trip near Waumatosa, Wis. Tonight Mr. Stuart submitted to the mediators s message from Mr. Underwood. After indicating the road’s willingness to re- turn to the conference, the message concludes: Long Postponement of “Evil Day. “In case the advance of wages is granted, the Erie company proposes to ask the men to defer the effective date untll January 1, 1815.” The position-taken by the Frie re- lieved the tenseness of the railroad situation at once. The mediators ap- peared to believe that the roads will soon withdraw their stipulation that their own grievances be submitted for arbitration along with the men’s de- mand for better wages. Agreement Hoped for Today. ‘ The mediators will confer with the managers tomorrow morning, and they hoped tonight to be able to announce in the afternoon that an agreemen had toyns: and: the .city-of° Cranston were | been. brought abott in the arbitration told by ‘Gov. Pothier yesterday that they ~must make some effort at once to, stop the gambling which is al- leged to be going on in those places. Japan, through its charge d’affairs at Mexico City, has suggested to the Huerta government -that it will not sanction any demonstration upon the arrival there of the Japanese minister which might partake of an anti-Amer- ican’ character. e Western Socialists Furnished $5,000 cash bail for Patrick Quinlan, L W. W. agitator now in staie’s prison, and | he will be released pending a review of his case in the New Jersey court of appeals in November. Six buildings were destroyed and eight others damaged in the village of ‘West Acton.”Mass., yesterday by a fire that is believed to have been started by a spark falling from a locomotive. The loss is placed at $40,000. Brigadier General E. A. Wedgewood of Utah has been appointed by the war department a member of the National Miiitla Band,. to succeed Rrigadier General Charles R. Board- man, of Wisconsin, resigned. A stick of dynamite in the hip pocket of Martin Funk exploded him to pieces when he fell during a playful wrestling match with his brother, at Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Row- land Funk, the brother, had his left hand blown off. Dr. A. D. Melvin, chief of the bureau of animal industry, was designated yesterday by Secretary Houston of the department of Agriculture to under- take a three months’ investigation of the meat packing industry in Argen- tina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paranguay. The lifeless bedy of 15-year-old Lena Cage, of Waynesburg, Pa., was found yesterday on the bank of Ten Mile Creek. The child disappeared a week ago after a quarrel, with a member of the family, and it is be- lieved she threw herself into the creek. While stooping over arranging some levels, Thomgs Hutchins, foreman of a gang of laborers laying water-pipes, at Wilkesbarre, Pa., was killed yes- terday by one of the workmen, a for- eigner. The man knocked Hutchins unconscious with a .shovel and then cut off his head with a hatchet. The state of Mississippi vyesterday brought suit against the Illinois Cen- tral and the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley railroads, asking $50,000,000 in penalties for alleged violation of a law forbidding consolidation of parallel and competing lines of railroads and de- manding that the two roads be ordered io cease doing business in the state. “Kiss me good bye and I'll go away and never bother you again”” With this request, Albert Snyder, 36 years, approached his wife at Kansas City, Mo., yesterday, threw his arm about her neck and fired a bullet into her forehead. He then fired a ball into his own braln. Recovery of either is doubtfil. Senator Tillman, who is on a diet by order 'of his physician, declared somewhat peevishly that “the art of frying chicken was unknown in Wash- ington.” As a result the South Caro- lina statesman has been inundated with fried chicken from Washington housewives. They come by parcel post and by messengers. Themas E. Hayden, of San Francisco, associate counsel for the government in the Diggs-Caminett! white slave ‘case, against whom vigorous protests recently were made on the ground that, Teto, 10 years old, he wag too inexperienced as a criminal lawyer to rarticipate in the came, ves- serving | terday tendered his resignation to At- torney Geperal McReyn and blew ; government and. some of the members deadlock. This agreement, if reached, will, the mediators plan, stipulate that the roads’ demands are to be arbitrat- ed after the wage dispute has been settled. PARCELS POST RATES MAY NOT BE CHANGED. Congressional Committee Calls Post- master-General to Account. ‘Washington, July 22—Concerted op- position has developed in congress to Postmaster General Burleson’s order reducing parcels post rates and In- creasing the maximum size of pack- ages to be handied In the service. The order was issued Sunday to become effective August 16 and today the sen- ate postoffice committee requested Mr. Burleson _to_appear before the ocom- mittee next Thursday with an expla- nation of the authority for his action. . _This was, the first step .in what promises to be a bitter contest. When the postmaster-general has been heard the committee is expected to under- take to have withdrawn before August 15 ‘any authority he may claim con- gress has given him to change rates and sizes. It. was contended in the committee that .the proposed changes would entail an enormous loss to the complained strenuously that the post- office department had failed to furnish congress with data concerning the op- eration of the parcels post. Appar- ently there was no difference of opin- ion in the committee as to whether tha postmaster-general should change the rates, emocrats and republicans agreeing that only congress ought to have this power. The controversy has aroused extra- ordinary interest at the capitol and in official circles, since the parcels pest touches more or less directly nearly everybody in the country. Those who are supporting the post- master-general in his stand insist that the only loss imminent under the pro- posed change would be to the expreas companies, which now carry the profit making, large size packages, while the government transports the unprofit~ able, small one: A U. 8. GUNBOAT IS ORDERED TO MEXICO. The Wheeling to Protect American Lives and Property. ‘Washington, July 22—The gunboat Whee!ingl;nd-ly was ordered to Fromt- era, Tebasco state, Mexico, where revolutionary actlv‘ty has endanger- ed the lives and property of Ameri- cans. BShe will sail from Key West tomorrow morning. The gunboat has 150 bluejackets but no marines. The state department has received alarming repcrts frcm Consul Laspia- asse at tera. Americans there be- came = apprehemsive when the rebeis occupied two American owned planta- tions and pillaged other property. The Wheeling will probably reach Frantera by nightfall tomorrow. The state de- partment was advised today that ar- rangements were completed for the embarkation of 100 indigent Americans frem Tampico, They will e taken to Galveston, Tex. Meriden Strike a Failure Meriden, July 22.—An officer of the Building Laborers’ union announced today that the strike ordered last June had been unsuccessful. The laborers requested a raise from $2.25 to $2.50 a day, and the building contractors steadfastly - refused to make the con- cession. 'Bridgeport Bridgeport, Conn., Boy -Drowned. Juty 22—Sig- drowned today whilé bathing in Ash Creek here. He got bevond his depth and kis cem- panions were unable to save him. His body was resevered. .