The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 8, 1896, Page 17

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, MARCE 8, 1896. 1% IS PasT PRESENT AND FUTURE, LEGRAPH HILL VIEW of San Francisco which omits Telegraph Hill may be not inaptly compared to the repre- sentation of the face of a great man which omits his character- istic wart. In these days of scientific won- ders the man whose vanity suffers through | the consciousness of a facial blemish re- | lieves his mind and his features by visit- | ing a specialist and having the defect re- moved. But how odd it will seem to the old pioneer to hear serious talk of the re- moval from the face of San Francisco of a feature so prominent and so famous as Telegraph Hill. Yet it is beyond question that the Cali- fornians of the twenty-first century will read of Telegraph Hill with about the same peculiar interest that we now read of mountains and cities that have disap- peared from the surface of the earth. They will wonder how it looked; wonder if it really rose abruptly to the towering height of 300 feet-above the City’s water front; and wonder again if nineteenth century historians of the golden West were not given to exaggeration when they alluded to an impassable mountain barrier to the | progress of Kearny and Montgomery streets (both of which, of course, shall | then run in an uninterrupted course from the heart of the City to the bay.) { Telegraph Hill is doomed—it is grad- lly passing. As of old, it looks defiantly | down Montgomery street, and the glance | of the casual observer from the old | thoroughfare reveals no change. But the | sight from the bay shore yields a different | story—the woeful fect that Telegraph Hill | is being unsparingly cut and hacked and | shot in the back of the neck. From the | summit, looking down on t scene of | demolition, you may see ant-like swarms of creatures carrying away tiny loads from the base. Little men are ceaselessly pick- | ing away at the gigantic k, and now and then blasting out a vard or so. And what a vast weight there is in a cubic yard! Four-fifths of a cubic yard of this | rock weighs a ton. And these little men who are picking and | g away and finding so much heavy labor in the re- moval of one of those tons bave no time and no inclination to con r the world of work that remains to be done ere the | last stone or fragment of rock of the great | hiil shall have been whirled away. Telegraph Hill is almost one solid mass | of rock. There is from twenty to twenty- two blocks of it, and these blocks repre- | intelligence that a new star of the West had been added to the National galaxy. Later on, and within the memory of the present generation, the hill loomed up as the scene of an enter- prise of magnitudinous proportions. What a glorious conception was that which genius lent to enthusiastic capi- talists in the 1dea of a cable road to the summit of Telegraph Hill, whereupon they should build a resort that shoula be the envy of rival cities and the admiration of travelers. The scheme was gigantic; so was the failure. The cable road was built up Greenwich street to the pavilion of pleasure at the top of the hill. It was| even in contemplation to have the carat the completion of the ascent lifted to the platform of a hydraulic elevator and dropped down to the level on the perpen- dicular bayside of the hill, whence a trip | to the seawall might be enjoyed. Tourists were expected to zo wild over such an ex- | cursion, and it was thought certain thac the people of the bay cities would keep coming in a continuous stream to swell | the receipts of the Telegraph Hill Cable Company. The cable-cars ran up the hill; the pavilion rose and kissed the clouds; but the very few madly delighted people never got the chance to drop down in the hydraulic elevator. The cable hadn’t been running very long before the bottom dropped out of the scheme. It was found, of course, to be stupendous folly. Subscribers to that enterprise, who invested big wads of good money in that gold-fed undertaking, do not care a continental for the fate of Tele- | graph Hill. There is something lamentable about the destruction of thishill. It once sloped gently to the sea, and wealthy people, attracted by the scenic site, built homes thereon and from their doorways feasted their eyes on pictures of never-waning in- | terest—on busy streets, on domes and spires, on sails and masts, on distant hills and mountains beyond them, on islands, bay and sea, and cities rising by the wave afar. The City of San Francisco made a sad mistake when she abandoned that hill to the quarrymen. Improved and beautified, what a rare ornament it would have made! Voyagers on ships coming in from sea would have been charmed at a picture of splendid homes greeting the eager gaze as the vessels steered into the placid harbor. | | | | | | In spite of years of legal battle against it the blasting process goes on. Is it too lateto save what remains, and must the hill be torn away piecemeal? If this blast- ing could be stopped, might not this hill yet be made a thing of beauty ? 1f you want a breath of good sea air, if you want a birdseye view of the rush of | the world of trade, if you want marine views, if you want muscle-building exer- cise, Telegraph Hill still stands with an open invitation to come and enjoy any and all of these. Will some old-timers speak outin its behalf? Or has the old historic landmark not one friend left? And must 1t then be for ages an eyesore and a blight before it vanishes forever? Gray Bros., who work the quarry and rock-crushing plant, are the heaviest owners of Telegraph Hill property to-day. from the bay. At present the hill acts as a sort of barrier against the low fog-banks. If the location of the hill were to the west instead of to the north, it would be in the course of the winds, and a removal, in that case, would make a material difference to the City.” People needn’t lie awake nights worry- ing for fear of climatic changes in this regard. The hill will bein evidence, any- how, for some time yet; although it is going by degrees, and thechange that time will bring to the blocks where it stands will be more wonderful than the conver- sion of bleak sand dunes into perpetual flower gardens. Fancy (a couple of hundred years from now), a curbstone philosopher, addressing a friend in front of a store on the Mont- gomery-street extension of the future, and relieving himself thus: TELEGRAPH HILL AS IT APPEARED IN 1849. [From an old print.] G. T. Gray of this firm has figured out that the hill will have disappeared in a lit- tle over a hundred years. The hill isthe residence quarter of a large class of for- eigners, of whom many own their lots. As the blasting moves deeper into the hill the lots above are purchased by the quarry- owners, who may ha¥e acquired the whole tocky eminence before: many decades go by, *No great value attaches to the hiil property now,”” said G.T. Gray, “‘but in the day that sees it leveled down it will be a splendid possession. Then Kearny and Montgomery streets will run through to the water front, and the way may be lined with stores and manufactories. The hill What a glorious place that hill might i is bounded by Broadway, Lombard, San- V) e—— N A i ] bl it A PORTION OF NORTH BEACH AS IT MAY LOOK WHEN TELEGRAPH HILL HAS BEEN REMOVED [4n ideal sketch by a “Call” artist.) sent a total of about?40,000,000 cubic feet, or about 50,000,000 tons. Only a quarter of a block of it is gone. Where is that quarter of a block? It has been distributed in almost every | quarter of the world. It hasgone as bal- last in the big ships. Dirt ballast fills the ship with slime, while this rock is clean. | The crushed rock is used for concrete in Liverpool. Britain holds a ground-up bit of Telegraph Hill; some of it is lost in the | streets of Paris; a little has gone to the Antipodes; the Asiatic shore has had a sprinkling of it; Africa has not been slightea, and why may we not imagine some Telegraph Hill concrete being | utilized to hold together some of the | ancient classic piles of Athens and of Rome? | The rock from Telegraph Hill is being | put into seawalls; into foundation-walls | and walls of streets; it'is being used up in ‘ riprap for railroads and in macadam for | roadways in many cities by the bay. Itis too seamy for building purposes. Three | hundred men are kept busy blasting and | crushing and loading it for a multitude of | destinations, and it may be observed that | Ban Francisco is the only city in the world | where a stone quarry is being worked and 8 rock-crushing plant operated within five blocks of the postoffice. Telegraph Hill may in the not distant future furnisb rock for walling in and re- claiming the stretch of land from Oakland to Oakland mole; it will be used to build seawalls for China Basin and all along the west shore; it may some day furnish rock for a bridge across to Goat Island and somplete a mole that shall unite it with the Alameda shore. The sooner these and other vast improvements take shape, the yuicker will be the downfall of Lelegraph Hill. The heart of the pioneer waxes sore at the thouzht of this worse than vandalism. 0ld San Francisco will be no more when that hill is gone. That hill is nearly all that is left of it to-day. In’49 the people »f the City were warned of the arrival of vessels by signals flashed from Telegraph Hill. The signal thrilled many a heart. It meant tidings from the Union; tidings Irom loved ones on the other side of the tontinent, and in those days the other side M the continent was the other side of the world. California was the jumping-off place. From Telegraph Hill the eagerly waiting City was apprised by signal of [alifornia’s admission to the sisterhood of ltates. The whole population watched fe hill that day and burst into a common lubilation when the signal shot forth the | have been made had the City been gifted with foresight long ago. Telegraph Hill should have been terraced. A roadway of easy grade should have wound about it from base to summit. Then mansions would have lined the roadway. The hill would not be, as it is, an unsightly rock to the gazer from the bay. Its summit would not be reached by cleatea paths along rows of ramshackle structures; the greater part of the hill would not be bare and cheap-locking, and people would re- gard it with pride where they now view 1t with pain and pity. 1t is too bad that some millionaire did not see fit to perpetuate his memory by providing for an observatory of some pre- tensions that should rest on Telegraph Hill like the topmast jewel of a regal crown. some and Dupont streets. The only ob- jection I have heard to the removal of Telegraph Hill is that a large portion of the City would be directly exposed to winds, where now the hill acts as a wind- break. Nobody alive will ever feel the change, but it is well to have a thought for posterity. I think even this objection is not well taken and that the importance of the hill as a windbreak is exaggerated.” In order to settle the question of possible climatic change, supposititiously due to a removal of Telegraph Hill, Weather Ob- server Hammohd was consulted in his cozy nest at the top of the Mills building. “It will make no climatic difference,” sald Mr. Hammond. “The only effect of the removal of Telegraph Hill would be to allow the fog to flow in more swiftly “It doesn’t seem possible that a cable road ran up a mountain and landed at a pavilion 200 or 300 feet high directly above where we are now standing in the open air, does it? Our forefathers were great liars.” OEATH OF WILLIAM MAIN A State Pioneer and Prominent in Commercial and Civic Circles. Connected With Leading Eastern Fam- ilies—His Death Due to a Fall From a Ladder. William Washington Main, an employe of the firm of Main & Winchester, died at his residence in this City Thursday morn- ing. While fixing u screw-eye at his office, 214 Battery street, on Monday morning the stepladder upon which he stood collapsed and he was thrown violently to the floor. ‘When picked up he was unconscious, and it was found that he was suffering from concussion of the brain. He did not there- after regain consciousness. The deceased was born in Boston, Mass., sixty-seven years ago. He came to Cali- fornia in 1849, and has since then been a resident of this State. He was one of the most prominent and energetic of the Vigi- lantes in the early '50's, the honesty and straightforwardness of his character al- ways asserting itself on the side of truth and right. After the Vigilante excitement in this City Mr. Main went to Petaluma, where he established a large and lucrative business. He also orgnnizm the Petaluma Fire Department. After the opening ot the railroad Mr. Main turned his eyes to the greater commercial center of San Francisco. From that time on he was identified with the firm of Main & Win- chester in the capacity of head of its most important department. sudden demise has deprived the firm of oneof its most valued and trusted em- ployes. It hasalso bereaved one of our most respected familes of its head. Willlam ‘Washington Main leaves behind him, be- sides a sorrowing widow to mourn his loss, three married daughters, Mrs, J. C. Fitz- gerald, wife of the publisher of the Silver Advocate; Mrs. I T. Tarbox and Mrs. Owen H. Wynne; one unmarried daugh- ter, Miss Alice L. Main, and a young son, Stanford W. Main. The head of the firm, Charles Main, feels the loss keenly, the more 80 a8 it is only two months since he lost his wife. The sad event will be de- plored by numerous families in Philadel- phia and other Eastern_cities, where Mr. Main had many influential relatives. He was connected with the Hartwells of Phil- adelphia, among the oldest settlers of the New England States. The funeral will take place to-day at 2 P. M., from his Iate residence, and Rev. G. W. Eliot Jr., associate pastor of the First Unitarian Church, will officiate. Inter- ment will be at Laurel Hill Cemetery. R g, = Starting Racehorses by Machines. The Ingleside Starting-machine Company has filed articles of incorporation. The com- pany 1s formed to manufacture and sell ma- chines for starting racehorses, The directors are: R. E. de B. Lopez, E. Corrigan, A. B. Spreckels, W. 8. Leake and R. P. Ashe. The capital stock is $100,000, $250 of which has been subscnb;edl._._._‘_ Among the principal industries of Ven- ezuela are the cultlvation of coffee and cocoa, cattle-raising, the growtn of sugar- cane and its manufacture into sugar and rum for local use. TELEGRAPH HILL AS IT APPEARS Td-DAY. [From a sketch made at the foot of Sansome streeta] also sometimes made to high diplomats as a special favor. 'he face value of the set of newspaper stamps that has just peen superseded by a new set is something over $200, and that of the new set is very near that amount. Owing to the impossibility of buying the complete set in the regular way at a post- office many of the stamps are quoted in the philatelic market at considerable over their face value, even when current. And itis known that this state of affairs has in many instances tempted ‘the attaches of foreign postoffices or of legations to dis- rose of these stamps to dealers or col- lectors. 5 This irregular practice meets with the strang disapproval of the best members of the philatelic fraternity, and a movement has recently been started by the philatelic societies of the United States to induce the Postoffice Department to put these stamps on sale at all postoffices, so asto do away with all temptation to sbarp practice on the part of collectors. It is claimed that no possible reason exists why these aumgs should not be sold to the general public, as no injury can result to the Government. It is argued on the con- trary that the revenue of the department would be largely augmented by the de- sired innovation, as many collecters would be only too glad to avail themselves of the opportunity to add these handsome labels to their collections. The movement was started by the Chi- cago Philatelic Society, of which Post- master Hesing of that city is a member, and Mr. Hesing’s name heads the petition that will be presented to the Postmaster- General on this subject. He will also write a letter to accompany the memorial to Washington, and which is expected to carry much weight. One of the largest purchases recently made of stamps was of a collection of Ger- man stamps by Charles J. Phillips of Lon- don. It is said to be practically complete. The purchase price was £6000, or $30,000. This gentleman is also reported to have sold an unused copy of what is known as the 4d error wood block of the Cape of Good Hope for £500, or nearly $2500. This is the second highest price ever paid for a stamp, the highest having been recorded by a St. Louis firm, about six months ago, in the sale of two copies of the 20-cent oosg.(l)naster's stamp of St. Louis for an even 5000. One of the serious evils that stamp collectors have to contend with is the manufacture of counterfeits of the rarer stamps, the laws on the point being at present ineffective. Relief is promised, however, from the next session of the members of the Postal Union, which is to take place in Washington. It is said that the members are arranging to make a law regarding the forging of postage-stamps more stringent than it is at present in all the countries within the union. Where there is8 no such law at present, as in Austria-Hungary, Spain, Siam and Vie- toria, it Is intended to introduce the neces- sary measures. FAMOUS LOUISE: MICHEL She Is Soon to Expound Her Fiery Doctrines in This City. REGARDED AS AN ECCENTRIC. The French Colony Prepared to Receive the Celebrated Woman, but That’s All The prospective arrival of Louise Michel in-this City is not exciting the French colony to any alarming degree, excepting in the sense of pleasurable anticipation. Those of the colony with employment around and in the markets contemplate the advent of the famous “petroleuse’” with the satisfactory knowledge that they will be able to listen to her fine oratory without overtaxing their purses. As to the others, they will patronize their coun- trywoman as they would Sarah Bernhardt, Coquelin or Jane Hading. “The absence of hot-headed Frenchmen at this time—men who love to incite riot,” stated Editor Chaigneau of the Franco- Californien, ‘“has much to do with the quiet situation. The Frenchmen of this City and State have greatly entered into the spirit of Americanism as it has been taught them in their adopted country, and they have little use for firebrands, bombs or anarchiats. “I do not believe there is more than one Frenchman in this city with ideas any- way socialistic, and he is mild—very mild, in fact—with a strong preference that all differences between factions be settled through the ballot-box. I am alluding to E. J. Dupuy, chief editor of the weekly called Le Relevement.’” The ideas expressed by Mr. Chaigneau are shared by the most prominent mem- bers of the French colony. Such men as Raphael Weill, M. Goustiaux, E. Dubedat, M. Julien, M. Pizoli, J. Bergez and scores of others are anxious to see and hear Louise Michel, who stands pre-eminent to- day among the women of France who have contributed toward making history. The Cercle Francais, although only a so- cial organization, will welcome Louise Michel. She is the most important visitor who has come to this country from France in many years, but the reception will not PEDDLERS AS BURGLARS, The Residence of Mrs. Miller, on O’Farrell Street, Broken Into. Every Bedroom Ransacked and Seve eral Hundred Dollars’ Worth of Jewelry Stolen. The residence of Mrs. Miller, 7154 O’Far= rell street, was entered by burglars yester- day morning and several hundred dollars’ worth of jewelry was stolen. Mrs. Miller and her two daughters locked up the house at 10 o’clock yester- day morning and went to church. They returned between 12 and 1 o’clock, and to their surprise they fouod the rear door open. They suspected something was wrong, and when they went upstairs their worst fears were realized. They alw: took the precaution to lock all the doors inside the house when they went out and every bed- room door was found open. Contents of bureau drawers were scattered about the floors and every place had been searched for money or jewelry. A tin box in one of the bedrooms con- taining $50 in cvin and a quantity of jew- elry had been pried open, but neither the money nor jewelry was taken, which led to the belief that just at the time the burglars had been scared away. An examination showed that the rear door and all the bedroom doors had been forced open with a “jimmy,” the marks being plainly visible. Mrs. Miller at once notified police head- buarters of the purglary and Dete ctives Bee and Harper were detailed on the case. Most of the recent daylight burglariesin the Western Addition have been attributed to peddlers, and two of them were seen in the locality of Mrs. Miller’s residence yes- terday morning and it was noticed that they did not have a wagon with them. Their mode of operations is to go around with a potato or two in their hands. If the potatoes are wanted at the house the ped- dler does not return. When there is no answer to the doorbell one stands on the lookout in front while the other goes to the rear with a *‘jimmy”’ and breaks into the house. Five peddlers in the Mission were ar- rested on suspicion of being burglars ten days ago, and after being detained two or three days were refeased, as no one could positively identify them. gnrmke of a political or socialistic nature, ut will be purely a welcome to the woman who was greeted by Clemenceau, Henri Rochefort and Louis Blanc_upon her re- turn to France in 1880 from Noumea with other pardoned prisoners of la Commune. There is no likelihood that Louise Michel’s visit will cause a sphitin the French colony such as occurred after the arrival of Gori among the Italian resi- dents. She is coming here not to work up a feeling of unrest, but to make money for a charitable purpose. There is no questioning the fact that the woman stands alone and. pre-eminent among the party leaders of the world. She is about 63 years of age, and, as a very small girl, started in life as a school- teacher. At the close of the French em- Eire she embraced politics, and during the ranco-Pruasian war she donned a uni- form and was wounded at the taking of Fort Issy. When the riots of the Commune_ broke out after the siege of Paris, Louise Michel was one of the leaders wifh the torch and petrolenm. On the 16th day of December, 1871, she was in custody and was tried, She refused to defend herself, saying: “I A sample cake of Sozoderma Soap, for the ski —————————————————————————————————————— NEW TO-DAY. Every package of this popular dentifrice contains: A large bottle of liquid Sozodont. se A box of Sozodont Powder. Use lquid Sozodont daily; the powder twice & week. A sma!l sample of the liquid by mail, if yon men- tlon the San Francisco CALL. Addressthe Proprietofs of Sozodont, J{aLL & RucKrL, New York. belong entirely to the revolution and I am proud of having set fire to Paris. All I wanted to_do was to start a barrier of flames to offset the invaders.” The woman captured the hearts of the po‘rulnu by her impudence before the judges. “You are cowards,”” she cried. “If not, you will condemn me to death, not to the penitentiary.’” She was sent to New Caledonia for a term of six years. Some steps were taken in 1872 to have her pardoned, but she wrote to the President protesting against any leniency in her case, and stating she did not propose to return unless all the other prisoners were pardoned as well. It was during her incarceration at Noumea that she wrote *Le Livre du Jour de I’An,” a volume for children, one of the most popular story-books in French litera- ture. In March, 1883, Louise Michel headed the populace of Paris in what were known as the “bread riots,” when her speech ad- vising her followers to drown the members of the Government caused her to be ar- rested and sent to jail. In 1886, at Havre, she was shot and severely wounded by another crank named Lucas. The latter while in jail appealed to the woman for mercy, and she secured his liberty. This wonderful French woman has written a number of interesting books, among which may be mentioned ‘“La Misere,” ‘“Les Meprises,” ‘‘La Fille du Peuple,” ‘“Le Batard Imperial,”. ‘“Les Microbes Humains,”” “Le Monde Nou- veau,” and a play entitled ‘‘Le Cog Rouge.” All of these are congested with her anarchistic personelity and ideas. Her mission to America is to make money for the pur})ose of establishing a home in London for ancient and un- forturate socialists. ANXIQUS T0 BUY STAMIPS, Collectors Preparing a Petition to Be Forwarded to Washington. Labels That the Government Jealously Guards From the General Public. One of the rules of the Postoffice Depart- ment that has always been incomprehen- sible to the intelligent stamp collector is that which absolutely forbids the sale of what are designated as newspaper or peri- odical stamps and postage-due stamps to the public at large. The newspaper stamps are never, in fact, sold to anybody, but are simply affixed to, the voucher showing the payment of post- age by a daily or periodical publication and then canceled. The postage-aue stampsare puton letters that have been inadequately prepaid to show the amount of the shortage which is collected from the Thela rgest piece of GOOD tobacco ever sod for iocents addressee. But despite the strict rule of the depart- ment against their sale in the ordinary way large numbers of these labels find their way into thé albums of collectors. A favorite way has been for some schem- ing collector to note the appointment of a new postmaster in his neighborhood and to make purchases of the proscribed stamps before the postmaster has properly famil- jarized himself with the rules. The higher values of the newspaper stamps are, however, not obtainable in this manner, as only th very largest post- offices keep them on hand. These reach the hands of collectors in a no less objec- tionable manner. It is the cuswom for each country on the issuing of a new stamp or series of stamps to uns 700 sets to the headquarters of tl‘:)e Postal Union at Berne, Switzerland, for distribution to the Postal Union countries that they may know that these stamps are roperly in use, each country being en- tled t0 8t least tWo sets, Gifts of sets are table Seeds, S 3.2 gea, 1 Chrysanthemunm, 1 Plants, 50c. 3 Send for our ble, Grass, Clover, Tree and Shrul Fruits; our latest importaf e Australia and Japan; all the Latest Novelties in' Flower and _COX SEED AND PLANT CO., San Francisco 50C.TRIAL SETS Choice Bulbs and Plants. ‘We prepay the postage and guarantee safe delivery of the Plants Any 3 Sets FoRr chsia, 1 Heliotrope, | $1:28 1 Manettia Vine, 1 Carnation, 1 Geranium, OoR 1 Solaum, r Petunia, 1 Abutilon, 1 Hydxm-wc 5 Sets nts New Caiif. Violet, | o FO® fa‘:d. Milot, 3 Sawnley | $2.00 ‘White, 3 Marie Louise. Illustrated Catalogue. Tt containsa complete list of our Flower, Vegeta- b ‘Sceds, Fruit Trees and Small tions from Germany, France, England, Vege- —~ 411, 413 Sansome Street