The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 30, 1895, Page 1

VOLUME LXXVIIL.—NO. 91. CENTS. RESIDENTS MUST NOT EXPECT MUCH RELIEF Little Chance of the Wright Act Being Upheld. JUDGE FULLER'S VIEW. An Interesting Open Letter by the President of an Irri- gation District. ACTION OF THE SUPREME COURT. | Reasons for Anticipating the Ruling of the Highest Tribunal of the Land. SAN DIEGO, Car ng. 29.—Judge George Fuller, president of the Linda | Vista irrigation district, has sent an open letter to residents and property-owners of ict in answer to inquiries as to the e outcome of litigation concerning 1t act and the duty of the dis- the meantime. e the annonncement of the de- n of the United States Circuit Court at Los Angeles in the Falbrook case, ad- to the constitutionality of Wright act, udge Fuller, “I have verse s aski s in Linda Vista district 1ould come before the United oreme Court. Up to this time I content to assume that the act id on the strength of decisions of ne Court of this State, all of ave been favorable to the constitu- of the act and its validity from ints of view. But for this recent ad- ng I should probably have been verse content to await the decision of the United States Su me Court in the Modesto case, | n appeal before it, without at- bable action. “The result of close examinationis to ke it appear to me that there is much d for apprehension that the Supreme rt of the United States will decide that he taxing power of the State cannot be ed by local assessments in aid of pro- ling water for irrigation. The act at- sto extend the right to assess for improvements to & kind of improve- ment for which assessments were never before made, and the right to so assess is attempted to be grounded on the theory that, although irrigation may primarily and directly benefit the owner or occupier of land irrigated and only incidentally and indircet/y benefit the community, yet that benefits to the community generally from irrigation of large tracts of land, which without it would be arid and unprodue- tive, are so extensive and far reaching that improvement may be considered a publicone, or public use to such an extent, at least, as rightfully to call for the exer- cise of taxing power in aid of it. “Indeed the view adopted by our State eme Court is that the act is for the fit of the public, and that the advan- 8 bene tage to owners and occupiers of land using | This is | water provided is only incidental. a matter of opi vhich may be affected by environm and possibly if the Judges of the Supreme Courtof the United States were all residents of California, and the them than a thing to read about or hur- riedly passed through on cars, and the need of that region for irrigation, difficulty of providing it and the change in product- iven and habitableness wrought when water is brought on the land were all known to them as known to the Judges of our own Staie tribunal, the Federal Su- preme Court would coincide with the views | a sewing-machine made by a rival cor- | all seriously njured. the | d by resiaentsand | would be the fate of the | to form an opinion in advancess | rid region were something more to | of the former. But nome of these prom- ises being true (save that Judge Field, one | out of nine members of the court, is anold | | Californian and tamiliar with the whole | subject) these peculiar conditions are not likely to exert such influence upon their | decision. “The precedents most relied on in sup- port of the act are the reclamation dis- trict cases, of which there have been sev- eral in the Supreme Court of ‘the United States, coming there from different States, | decisions in all of them having been favor- able to the right to tax for drainage pur- voses or for the prevention of overflows by levees. Consideration of public health has been one element in upholding drainage acts as measures for public benefit and this would be sufficient in itse)f to uphold { them. But this would hardly be consid- ered a sufficient reason to sustain the irri- gation act. The arid region is very healthy | without water, though it may be uncom- | fortable. Iam not speaking of deserts, to which the Wright act could not be made ‘ practicable, but drainage acts that have | been upheld, independent of the considera- tion of public health, as an exercise of power of the Legislature to reguiate the | use of adjoining property held in severalty by different owners, but which cannot be improved or enjoyed without the concur- rence of all. “In these drainage acts owners of several tracts are treated for purposes of the acts | as owners of common property. Can any principle be extracted from the ground for THE RAILROAD COMMISSION CALLIOPE ON WHICH HUNTINGTON IS PLAYING THE SAME OLD TUNES. [Suggested by a cartoon in the Chicago Inter Ocean.] upholding drainage acts which will sup- | port the irrigation act? Can several own- | ers in oneirrigation district be regarded in | any view as owners of acommon property ? They have one thing in common, that | | their lands are arid. But so far as phys- | | ical conditions are concerned any one of | | the tracts in a district may be watered | without watering any others. It can only | | be said that none of thelands in the di trict can be provided with water for irrig tion without providing it for all of the lands in the sense of finance, or, in other words, that it is practically impossible to raise funds necessary for providing a water system unless all the land-owners in the district contribute. “But is thisa reason, in law, for com- pelling an owner to contribute? Men’s ies or their financial difficulties in hing any business or enterprise | which might benefit a community as well | | as themselves have never been recognized as a basis for levying taxes. Wherever such an attempt has been made it has | failed. The United States BSupreme Court may discover no essential difference between illdgal taxation | to aid in the establishment of | | manufactories and taxation to aid in the establishment of orchards, vineyards or | farms. The presumption is prima facie | | that an act of the Legislature is within the | scope of its powers. If an attack is made upon it it must demonstrate that it con- jtrm’enes some partienlar provision of the | constitution. If it is a anatter of doubt the act will stand. It will'not be set aside | | unless it palpably conflicts with some con- | | stitational limitation. “Premising these principles, our State | Supreme Court holds that the hastening of irrigation development is a matter in which the public has such an interest as to justify the levying of assessments upon | country. | courts in New Hampshire. | if the contract be made the matter will get | criminaily liable. | be addressed Sunday next by Keir Hardie property-owners in districts for the pur- | pose. This is what may be called an ex- | treme liberal view of the general-welfare clause. If the United States Supreme | Court shall adopt it it will be a step aside | | from the beaten path of that conservative | tribunal. I think it would be wise to do no | | act" not absolutely necessary for saving | rights and to cut off all possible expendi- | tures consistent with this until the de- | cision of tne United States Supreme Court shall be announced.” | Great Sewing-Machine Fight. | | CONCORD, N. H., Aug. 20.—J. F. Wil- | | belm of the Excelsior Fur and Glove Sewing Machine Company, while here yesterday discovered at a clothing-store | | driven near Deerfield from a picnic this poration, and the result will be, in all| probabilities, that Concord will become | the center of one of the greatestsewing- | machine fights ever witnessed in _this | The company represented by Wilhelm claims that the machine in possession of the local concern is a_direct infringement on its patent, and will test the question before the United States —_———— ROW OVER SCHOOLBOOKS. It Is Said a Contract Has Been Made With a Trust. TOPEKA, Kax., Aug. 29.—There is a row in the Topeka School Board over the | porchase of new books. The American | Book Trust has an sgent here who has won over a majority of the board and is about to geta contract for the books de- sired. The minority, however, claim that the bocks can be purchased elsewhere, and into the courts. The Kansas law is strict against trusts and combines and agents may be heid The scheme is, how- ever, to proceed against the trust by junction. There have already been 0 successful prosecutions against trustsin Kansas. One broke up the undertakers’ combine in Topeka; the other, instituted by the Attorney-General, broke up the pa- per trust. g O RED FLAGS BARRED. They Will Not Be Tolerated in an Open- Air Demonstration. CHICAGO, Irw., Aug. 29. —Red flags will not be allowed to be publicly displayed by the socialistic labor agitators at the open- air demonstration and picnic, which is to and John Swinton, or in the parade of tha socialists Monday, which is Labor day. An order to this effect was given the police department to-day by Mayor Swift. One of the committee in charge of the picnic is Oscar Neebe, one of the pardoned Hay- market anarchists. In his saloon there is displayed a big blood-red banner, which it is proposed to present to the socialistic party at the picnic and used in the meet- ings of that body. The police may .even prevent this much display of the lawless emblem. gt Killed by Lightning. MADISON, Wis.,, Aug. 29.—While a wagon containing’ nine persons was being afternoon, a thunderstorm broke out and lightning struck the party. August Sel- now and a 14-year-old girl named Holtz- huler were instantly killed. A 12-year-old sister of the latter received fatal injuries from the shock and from falling from the wagon. The other six, except one, were T0 RETARD PROGRESS Southern Pacific People After Valley Road Officials. SIGNALS AT CROSSINGS. The New Line May Be Forced to Expend Considerable Money on Them. PLAN OF THE OPPOSITION.| Good Progress Is Being Made, How~ ever, on Both of the New Roads. BTOCKTON, Car., Aug. 20.—The Corral Hollow road is making rapid progress with its work of grading on Hunter street and is now on the second block south of Taylor street. This morning Hy Barber, the local representative, was looking for more teams, as the haul is longer now and more teams can be used advantageously. He did not have much trouble, as' he has already about forty applications for work from men with horses. There are now about 150 men at work | scraping, loading and hauling earth for the Corral Hollow road. The company evi- dently means to carry out its expressed in- tention of having the road in operation in time to bring coal here from the mines for use this winter. To-night the franchise for this road came up before the Council and there was very little opposition to the granting of it. Some time ago Chief Engineer Storey of the Valley road stated that no more oppo- sition would come from his company, which was the chief objector when the franchise came up to be passed to print for the first time. The pile-driver to pe used in construct- | .obstruct the channel more than is abso- ing the trestle bridge over Mormon Chan- nel at Hunter street was finished to-day, and the work of driving the piles will be commenced as soon as the timbers and piles arrive. They are due here by the first of next week. This bridge will be about 360 feet long when completed. Great pains have been taken by Surveyor Atherton in placing the line of the bridge in order that it may obstruct the channel as little as possible and that the piling may not catch debris brought down by the stream. In order to accomplish this object the bents of piles will be placed as nearly as possible parallel with the stream, and thus the bridge will not lutely necessary. It is claimed that the trestie bridge further up the stream erected by the Valley road will act as a | dam, but Chief Engineer Storey denies this and says it will not obstruct the channel any more than that planned by the Corral Hollow people. The repre- sentatives of the latter claim that their long bridge on a curve over the stream will be more costly to them than 1f con- structed differently, but that they were looking out for Stockton’s interests when they designed the bridge, and arranged to have it erected according to the proposed plans in order not to have it obstruct the stream. . 3 The object of the Valley Railway Com- pany in laying short sections of track ucross sireets where the Corral Hollow road will have to pass was probably acoup d’etat to save considerable expense. It has been rumored that the Valley railway péople broke faith with the Corral Hollow Company in regard to the crossings, but this rumor, according to Director Coleman of Corral Hollow road, is not correct. Rep- resentatives of the two companies had a consultation about the crossings, but the Valley people would not enter into any agreement at all, saying that the matter would have to be referred to the board of directors. It is now said that the Southern Pacific Company will compel the Valley company to establish and maintain an interlocking safety signal at every point where the lat- ter company’s line crosses the former’s. The system, so they say, is quite expen- sive, the cost being about $2000 for every crossing, so the Valley road wants to “play even,” as much as possible, at the expense of the Corral Hollow road. Marriage of a Diplomat. NEW LONDON, Coxw., Aug. 29.—The TWELVE JURORS PREPARED TOTRY DURRANT | Duke d’Arcos, the Spanish -Minister to Mexico, and Miss Virginia Woodbury Lowrey of Washington were married at the Pequot House yesterday. Only im- mediate relatives were present, with the exception of the Spanish Minister, Dupuy de Lome, and his wife. PRIVATE MOLTZ DESERTED. Shots From the Sentry Failed to Check His Flight. WILLETS POINT, L. I, Aug. 29.—Pri- vate Fred Moltz, a prisoner, escaped from this post yesterday. Moltz enlisted in the engineer battalion two weeks ago and was identified by his description in the papers sent to Washington as a deserter from the First Cavalry. He was lodged in the guardhouse on an order from the adjutant- general at Washington, and yesterday he confessed to Major Koerper that he was the First Cayalry deserter. He was to have been tried by court-martial in six weeks. ‘While being taken with two other pris- oners from the guardhouse to the mess hall yesterday for dinner, in charge of Private ‘Herman Mari, the sentry, Moltz broke away and ran. As quickly as possi- ble the sentry drew the blank cartridges from his Krag-Jorgenson gun and placed six ball cartridges in the magazine. He shouted to the prisoner to stop, but he continued running. The sentry then fired the six shots at Moltz as he bounded over the ditch and across the narrow strip of meadow land to the woods just outside the ost. None of the shots appeared to have taken effect. The report of the rifle brought the whole guard and many other sentries hurrying to the scene, and a search was made. %p to midnight no trace of Moltz had been found. The sentry will probably be punished for allowing the prisoner to escape. SEVERAL WERE T0 BLAME Verdict of the Coroner’s Jury in the Gumry Hotel Dis~ aster. Employers Censured for Keeping a Drunken Engineer and Working Him Sixteen Hours a Day. DENVER, Covo., Aug. 29.—The Coro- ner’s jury sitting upon the twenty-two bodies of persons killed in the Gumry Hotel accident rendered a verdict to- night. In part the verdict reads: “From the testimony submitted, which | was conflicting, we are unable to fix.the responsibility for the disaster upon any one person, but we believe the owners and managers, Peter Gumry and Robert C. Greiner, were blamable forrequiring of the engineer sixteen hours’ work out of twenty-four—a request far beyond the abifity of any man to endure and perform good work; also for employing. an, en- gineer whose habits were dissipated and unreliable, and whose experience did not justify them in placing him in such a re- sponsible position, all of which were well known to them. “We find that the engineer, Helmuth Loescher, had been drinking on the night of the disaster, and further, he had not ex- amined the safety valve to the boiler for two months, proving him unfit to occupy any position where security to life and property depends upon the faithful per- formance of duty.” The verdict also reflects upon the methods in vogue in the office of the City Boiler Inspector, and closes with a sug- gestion for legislation on the subject. The jury was composed of the following romitent citizens: K. G. Cooper, F. B. roke, F. E. Edbrooke, Charles W. Bab- cock, Frank M. Demange and R. W. Speer. R Capture of a Desperado. COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa, Aug. 29.—Ed Tierney, a desperado, was captured near Vail, Towa, to-day by the Sheriff of Holt County. He was taken to Denison and lodged in jail, awaiting requisition papers. For additional Pacific Coast news see Pages 8, §and 5. S. E. Dutton, Wholesale Stationer, Completes the Panel. DURRANT WILL TESTIFY. His Attorneys Declare They Will Place Him on the Stand. THE CASES FOR AND AGAINST. Synopsis of the Evidence to Be Pre= | sented by Prosecution and Defense. THE DURRANT CASE IN A MINUTE-THE JURY COMPLETED. . Samuel E. Dutton, the twelfth juror in the Durrant case, was secured yesterday morning, making the complete list of jurors as follows: 1.J. Truman, 812 Twentieth street. Thomas W. Seiberlich, 533 Ellis. M. R. Dempster, 36 Glen Park avenue. Nathan Crocker, 1912 Bush. Charles P. Nathan, 1617 Van Ness avenue, Horace Smyth, 2127 Broderick. F. P. Hooper, 2741 California. L. Gregoire, 816 Capp. Warren Dutton, 1328 California. David Brooks, 1311 Califoraia. J. H. Babbitt, 1015 Market. Samuel E. Dutton, 2511 Sacramento. The court adjourned till Monday, when the opening statement of the prosecution will be made. The attorneys for Durrant state that he will go on the stand to testify in his own behalt. The evidence which will be given by a number of his witnesses has been learned, but their names are still concealed. A succinct presentation of the case for the prosecution and that for the defense is printed to-day. e The twenty-first day of the trial of Wil- liam Henry Theodore Durrant, charged with the murder of Blanche Lamont in the Emmanuel Baptist Church on April 3, | 1895, ended the long struggle for a jury in | the selection of Samue! E. Dutton, the twelith man, yesterday morning at 11:30 | o’clock. | More than half of the venire of seventy- five citizens presented themselves to Judge Murphy at the opening of court and | offered excuses of all kinds, both serious | and humorous. Some informed his Honor | confidentially that they had made up their | minds on the question of guilt or inno- | cence. There were two or three who sud- denly became unable to serve through an attack of rheumatic gout, and they received the solace that the courtroom of Depart- “hent 3 was a great sanitarium for diseases of that sort. But there were enough left who were able and willing to do their duty. E. L. Atkinson’s was the first name called. He did not respond and was allowed to pass without being dignified with an attachment. S. M. Bettman was subjected to a rigid examination that indicated the determina- tion of counsel to get that twelfth juror as quickly as possible. But he passed down the line on the ground of possessinga posi- tive opinion. H. Palmer also passed through a series of searching questions, but his mind was also made up and he was excused. Samuel E. Dutton of 2511 Sacramento street was the fourth man called and the third examined. His questioners put him through the same rigid course. Mr. Dut- ton is a member of the firm of Dutton & Partridge, stationers, 212and 214 California street. “Have you any conscientious scruples against the infliction of the death penalty in a proper case?” asked District Attorney Barnes. “Not in a proper case,” replied Mr. Dut- ton, “and to my mind a proper case would e a cold-blooded murder.” “Could you be satisfied as to the guilt 1, J. Truman. THE TWELVE GOOD MEN ANDP TRUE IN WHOSE HANDS Nathan Crocker. Charles P. Nathan. Warren Dutton. ‘W. B, Dempster. L. Gregoire. David Brooks. T. W. Seiberlich. 8. E. Lutton. J. H. Babbitt. RESTS THE FATE OF W. H. T. DURRANT. 1 H. J. Smyth. F. P. Hooper.