The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 3, 1896, Page 10

10 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, MAY 3, 1596. WRECKED BY EAS EXPLOSIONS, Policeman William Calli- nan’s Cottage Almost in Ruins. IS PARTLY BLOWN AWAY Miraculous Escape From Death of - Callinan and His Wife. HE I8 VERY BADLY BURNED. The Force of the Explosions Was Felt by Residents of the Entire Block. It was almost by a ‘miracle that a vacaney was not caused on the police force yesterday morning by one of the worst ex- piosions of gas that have occurred in a pri- vate honse in the City. Policeman William Callinan lives at 1058 McAllister street. in one of a row of one- story frame cottages from Webster street east. street-and in front of each is a smali flower garden. - There are five rooms-in the cottage. En- tering from the street.there is a broad hallway, with the parlor to the right. At the'end of the hallway is the dining-room, with a bedroom leading off it to the right, the window of the bedroom facing into | the reaf porch. The kitchen leads off the sitting-room and there is a small bedroom in the rear of the kitchen. the * kitchen opens onto the rear porch, from which about a dozen steps lead to the vard. Callinan.and bis wife were the only oc- cupants of the cottage, their son being in Germany finishing bis musical education. They slept in the bedroom off the dining- room. ‘It ‘was their custom to leave the doors of all the rooms open, which was a fortunate circumstence. Shortly before 5 o’clock Callinan got-out of bed, as he wanted a drink of water. He went into the kitchen and was surprised to find a'strong smell of gas in the room. Thinking it might come from the pickle factory in the rear, he opened the kitchen door.and stood for a minute on the porch. Feeling satisfied that the smell did not | ¢ome from.the pickle factory, he wentinto the kitchen and lit a match. It was blown out and he lit another, and with his face to.the kitchen door he held the hghted match close to the gas- jet to test if the gas was escaping by its not being properly turned off there. There was a sizzling noise, followed by a terrific. explosion. Callinan did not lose his presence of mind. He yelled to his wife and ran toward the Kitchen door. Just then there was another explosion and t‘al:iman staggered down the steps to the yard. ‘The mef of engine 14, which is almost directly opposite Callinan’s house, were The cottages stand - back from the | The door of | | struck by a cyclone. | at the meter Castillo went in search ot | of the kitchen window, which had been | with burns from the soles of his feet to the | the bed. No. 1060 is empty, but in 1056 on standing outside the engine-house and feit the shock of the explosions. Leo Castillo, who lives at 1062, saw a piece of window- curtain and some pieces of glass blown across the street, nmraurmislng that some- thing was wrong in Caliinan’s house he and the other men ran across the streew They saw a scene that appalled them. The building looked as if it had been Mrs. Callinan was al- most in hysterics, and in a bewildered state was groping about and erying out for her husband. A'long stream of gas flame was pouring from the broken pipe in the kitchen and bad set fire to towels and other articles in the room. ‘While some one went to turn off the gas Callinan. He found him on his knees in the yard, where he bad fallen after stag- gering around like a drunken man. His skin was blackened and he was suffering intensely. Round his body was the frame blown on top of him as he staggered down the rear steps after the second explosion. After the gas had been turned off and the incipient fires distinguished, Callinan was taken to the Receiving Hospital. No part of his body escaped. He was covered top of his head,but fortunately bis eyes had escaped. Everything was done to allevi- ate his pain. Although badly burned, it is_thought he will soon recover. From the force of the explosion it is miraculous that Callinan escaped with his life. The entire west wall of the kitchen was blown out and hung in places from the fastenings at the roof. Crockery on the kitchen table was blown through the window clear acrossa high fence into the yard of the next house. The kitchen win- 7 77 { Policeman Callinan. {From @ photograph.j dow was blown out, sash and all, and the window in the adjoining house directly opposite was shattered in pieces. Several of Mrs. Callinan’s dresses, which were hanging in the bedroom of the kitchen, were blown through the window into the yard, and ber shoes, which she had left in the kitchen, were found torn in pieces in the yard. The alarm-clock, which was placed on a small table close to the window, had been lifted up, and was fo-nd several nours later by Mrs. Castillo hanging to the win- dow curtain roller above, and ticking away | as if nothing had kappened. The glass in the two front windows was | blown into the street with a portion of the window-curtains. A large portion of the plastering in the ceiling had fallen and destroyed some fancy articles, while others had been thrown to the floor and broken in pieces. Only one picture had fallen from the walls in the parlor. The shock was felt throughout the entire block. Mrs. Castillo, who lives in 106, was thrown out of her bed and her baby T How 'the Kitchen of Policeman Callinan’s Cottage Appeared After Being Shattered by the Explosions. [Sketched by a “Call” artist.] the east side the occupants thought an earthquake had come again, the building shook so much. “I feel all right,” said Callinan in the hospital yesterday afternoon, ‘“but I can see | had a narrow escape. I suffer most paln in my left hand. I suppose I threw it upward when I heard the sizzling noise. “I didn’t lose consciousness at all. I knew what was coming and yelled to my wife. The first explosion was much louder than the second and it was not till the sec- | ond that I knew I had been burned, as I felt the flame burning me. I instinctively made for the kitchen door, as I wanted air, and it was fortunate 1 happened to be facing it. *‘I don’t know where the leak could have come from. Itcould not have been from the gas jet, as 1am very particular with it, but as the pipes are old I suppose there must have been a leak in them some- where.” Callinan is in the hospital and his wife has found temporary quarters with her neighbor, Mrs. Castilio. ~ She is not suffer- ing from 'any ill effects from the shock. Reading in the Public Schools. The California Association of Elocutionists held areguiar monthly meeting at Shiels’ building yesterday afternoon. The chief event of the session was the pro- duction of & paper by Miss Emily Curiis. The | paper was entitlea “Reading in the Public Schools.” The intelligent and instructive style in which Miss Curtis handled the sub- jectcalled tforth animated discussion. Edna Snell Poulson, Louise Humpnrey Smith and Professor Ross spoke on the topic of the ses- sion. It was made clear to the minds of all present that a radical change should _be made in the existing method of teaching the art of | reading in the common schools. At Grace Church. A special musical service will be given to- night at Grace Episcopal Church under the direction of William H. Holt, organist, was pitched from the head to the foot of i Messrs. Homer Henley, Frank Coffin and other well-known vocalists wi SLASHED RATES T0 UTAH Bitter War Between the Southern Pacific and Competing Eastern Lines. IN CALIFORNIA'S INTEREST. Discrimination Charged on the Part of the Union Pacific and Rio Grande Western. It is now a battle between the Southern Pacific Company and combined power of the Union Pacific and Rio Grande Western roads, the prize being the freight business | into Utah. The trouble has been impend- ing for some time and W. B. Curtis, the | alert traffic manager of the Traffic Asso- | ciation of California, has the credit of in- | stigating the war which is being waged o | give California manufacturers and pro- ducers an equal chance with eastern com- petitors, so far as freight rates are con- cerned, for doing business in Utah. Several months ago there was a confer- ence of the roads interested in Utah busi- ness held in Salt Lake City for the pur- pose of considering the situation. The | Southern Pacific at this meeting contended that the rates from California points to Utah common points shouid be based on the rates in operation between Chicago and Utah common points—that is, should be the same rate per mile per ton from Cal- ifornia as from Chicago. This the roads en- tering Utah from the east refused to con- cede. They were apparently in a posi- tion to control the situation, as the South- ern Pacific could only land California freignt at Ogden, whence it must be dis- | tributed to the other Utah points over the | lines of the Union Pacific and the Rio Grande Western. Thus, if the two latter refused to make a combination rate with the Southern Pacific Company to Utah common points the comparatively high local rates out of Ogden would seemingly bar the entrance of California products into Utah. There is a big object in this move to shut out California freight from Utah on the part of the two roads named. Every ound of merchandise moved into Utah rom California means virtually that much less for the roads entering that sec- tion from the East, as the haul from the" coast is almost entirely over the Centrsal Pacific railroad, with only the short hauls out of Ogden to the distributing points in Utah for the Union Pacific and the Rio Grande Western, while freight from Chi- cago gives these roads a long haul. As soon as the Sonthern Pacific repre- sentatives returned they, on the request of different manufacturers and producers, quoted especiaily low rates on certain commodities to Ogden, endeavoring to overcome the inequalities and discrimina- tions against California which the rival roads refused to remove. Additions were made to these ‘‘cut” rates from time to time, and last month they were all embodied in & new schedule known as “Special Freight Tariff No. 26—U,” which was put out to go into ef- fect on April 15. This gives the rates from Califoruia common points on the Central Pacific road to Ogden, and from Ogden to San Francisco. It is expressly stated that ‘‘the rates shown herein are not regarded as fair compensation for ser- | Handicaps for Their Five-Mile Road vice, but are forced by excessive competi- tion of other carriers.’” This tariff only recently attracted the attention ot the Eastern competing roads. They soon found that it gave San Fran- cisco a greater advantage for Utah busi- ness. In conseanence the Eastern lines sought means to counteract the effect of the tariff, and the method they aaopted was to cancel the distrfouting rates that heretofore prevailed from Ogden; that is, they make merchants pay thefull local tariff rates on evervthing distributed. Another move that they have made isto exact the full local rate between Ogden and Salt Lake for freight south'of Lehi Junction. All freight for. this extensive mining section previously carried the same rate from either Ozden or Salt Lake, and all freight from Ogden must necessarily pass through Salt Lake. This makes a considerable difference to the jobbers at Ogden, who sre handi- capped as against the Salt Lake jobbers for this business to the extent of the rates between Ogden and Salt Lake, which are as follows per 100 pounds: First class, 30 cents; second class, 25 cents; third class, 20 cents; fourth class, 15} cents; fifth class and class A, 15 cents; class B, 131 cents; class C, 11 cents; classes D and K, | 8 cents. As most of the freight for the | region mentioned is fourth and fifth class this means a difference of at least §3 a ton to the purchaser. A 2 The result of this action on the part of the roads east of Ogden has been to arouse general and intense indignation among | the merchants of Ogden, who claim that they are being discriminated against in fayor of Salt Sake, That the sentiment is strong is shown by the following excerpt from a circular letter of John Crowe- croft & Sons Company, one of the largest Ogden mercantile firms, sent to all their customers in Utah: The Union Pacific and Rio} Grande Western railroads have issued a tariff by which Ogden jobbers, when selling goods south of Salt Lake City, are compelled to pay freight charges from Ogden to Salt Lake, thus giving Salt Lake jobbers an advantage over Ogden jobbers of from 1524 to 30 cents per hundred, but when Salt Lake jobbers sell goods north of Ogden they have o freight to pay between Salt Lake and Ogden, thus placing them exactly on the same base as the Ogden jobbers in the north. How’s that for fair play? Giving the other fel- low the biggest club and the best place in the ring every time. Of course there are some residents in a certain city who think there is nothing in Utah outside of that city bot ‘‘cow counties,” the inhabitants of which should not expect any privileges commercially or even | politically, except paying taxes, that their great city enjoys. ; However, the object of this circular isto. notify our customers to sendus orders from | our lists_as usual, figure with our traveling men, and when your goods arrive send us your expense bills and we will refund to you every cent that your freight: would have cost you more from Ogden than it would have done from Salt Lake. ; This feeling bas also manifested itself through tue newspapers of the new State. One of these, the Ogden Standara, in its editorial coilumns stated that the farmers and merchants in the territory thus dis- criminated against were ready to grade the thirty-six miles between Ogden and Salt Lake if the Southern Pacific Company would undertake to build the road, accept- 1ng stock in the road as payment. OLYMPIC CYCLERS. Race at San Carlos To-Day. The handicaps for the Olympic Cyclers’ five-mile road race at San Carlos to-day are as follows: Roy Barney, James W. Coffroth and Fred R. Butz, scratch; Frank Rodolph _and Howard Smith, 20 seconds; Arthur Pollexfen, George James, Max Rosenfeld and Charles Kreling, 30 sec- onds; Russell Eaton and Thomas Mulvey, 50 seconds; J. D. Saxe, 8. I. Blake, P. A. Breen, Ed M. Stack, Rudolph Schleuter, | Fred Carter and G. J. Fitzgibbon, 1 man- | ute; C. B. Sloan, Paul Dunphy, J. P.| Jackson, Otto Eichholz, Milton P. Hayes, Thomas B. McGiuness, 1:10; Stewart Car- ter, S. B. Pauson, 1:20 les F. Morel, | BREWERY UNIDN FIEHT, While Asking for -Peace the ° Men Are Preparing for a Battle. HELP COMES FROM ABROAD, The Plan by Which the Union Brew. ery Workingmen Hope to Win a Victory. An interesting meeting of the Brewery Workmen’s Union was held last evening relative to the impending war with the bosses of the association. The decision arrived at was that one more effort will be made to effect” an amicable settlement with the bosses and obtain a recognition of the union; also, that pending a settle- ment the preparations for a long, bitter fight shall proceed. If 1t is possible to arrange magters peaceably the union de- .sires to do so, but even if it hastobea fight the'union has everything to gain and nothing to lose. The preparation for the fight has pro- gressed further than many suppose. In -the first place the union has received the indorsement. of the Building Trades’ _Council, representing several thousand men, and of the 8dn Francisco Labor Council, also representing a large force of laboring men. At the meeting of the latter organization Friday evening Secré- tary Joseph Walters asked that the execu- tive committee of the council meet the executive committee ‘of the union and decide upon the brewery to be boycotted, The union’s comitnittee will -decide upon ‘the brewery at a very early date, when the delegates from Sacramento, - Seattle, San Jose and Stockton arrive. -The plan outlined last evening shows considerable shrewdness. To open up the batteries of a general boycott against the beer of .all the- breweries in the Brewers’ Protective Association would be futile. To select a brewery whose patrons are the ‘‘high-toned” saloons would be equally useless. The plan is to select the brewery that sells the most to the corner groceries and saloons in the districts inhabited principally by the working people, the element whose support has been promised by the two big central labor organizations. Additional strength has been acquired .by a unian brewer in a city not far away volunteering to send all the beer wanted to take the place of the boycotted brand. This . brewer’s product, both steam and lager, is considered to be first-class. The man himself has long been sharpening his knife to stick into the association. As the latter body is co-operative, on the principle of protection, it will be obiiged to go to the assistance of the boycotted brewery. Thare is but one way to meet the outsjde brewer who helps the union in its fight——cut the pricz of beer to tae lowest no*ch. This course is just what the association wishes to avoid, because a cut-rate beer war is disastrous to all concerned. In the scramble for the patronage it is feared, and no doubt with good reason, that some of the wea-k need in the asso- ciation will surely fall down and unioni their breweries for th sake of the work- ingmen’s patronage. This is what is wanted, for in the wreck the union calcu- lates on obtaining some of the spoils. Bur, as stated, while these preparations are be- ing made for a long, bitter fight, the oliye branch is stil! extended by the union to the 1:45; George S. Mc! brewers. DO NOT BE DECEIVED! By the representation of a daily newspaper of San Francisco that a “High Art” Bicycle can be bought for $47.50. The fact is that the keenest competition exists between the great multitude of bicycle factories in this country. This competition is so keen that all wheels are sold on a small margin of profit. $47.50 wheels are not $65 wheels, $65 wheels are not $85 nor $100 wheels. Each priced wheel represents a well defined grade. Hence the claim made by' the pedd'lers of the $47.50 “High Art” wheel that “it is so cheap for a first-class bicycle that it startles a pers on who has paid $105 for a similar one,” is wholly unwarranted. Local agents are selling the advertised wheel for $35, without coupons, and say that it is a “Crescent” wheel of 1895 pattern, manufactured by the Western Wheel Co. of Chicago and sold last year under a GUARANTEE for $50. ADLAKE - - - - $100 GLADIATOR - - - $100 CLEVELAND - - - $100 THISTLE - - - - $100 MONARCH - - - - $85 HONARCH - - - - $100 COLUMBIA - - - $100 DAYTON - - - - $100 SMALLEY - - - - $10 LU-MENDM - - - $100 RAMBLER - - - $100 WAVERLY - - - $% format. W DIRECT WIRES. Tt cousmy TRANSMITS awo DELIVERS wessacts ome on OO U TN €78 L1ABTY, o wark OUEW SEHAILD %0 @ tmp @m0cn 7 Ta e omes wesssot. EAR088 Can 6€ OUARGID AdnrnET OmLY O BEPEATIRG 4 (RSARE GACK %3 4 240w €7ATIGm 430 COmean1so aND Tk Companr e w02 mua JORN W MACKAY, fresident. W- € VAN HORNE, Vice-lresident. e C-0-P-Y. S. F. 1. M, Ag. 24 Pai Leavitt & Bill, Received at San Francisco, da PROMPT SERVICE. UNREPEATED MESSAGES arvono et svoue® of T0US Sa® THERION ;. MO % ANY GASE Wit TE Guare @ B33 PRLISE 1D 8 SRy A Sy Tem @ an UPREPEATED MESSACE, a0 @ cnwen @ 00 W SNCER WNOLA TuE CONIIAD MANCO 48OV CHAS. R. HOSMER, General Manager . . STOKKOR, Superintendent P e e Received atSan Francisco, Gal. Cali, 9ia.m. Chicago, Illinois, May lst.. 1896. San Francisco:-- Wheels sold Chronicle are for premiums only not to be sold. Investigate and wire fully at our expense if wheels are offered for sale. Western Wheel Works. (The Western Wheel Works manufacture nothing but Crescent Wheels.) The Following Wheels Are Cheerfully Recommended to The Call Readers: STERLING - - - $100 WINTON - - - $109 TRIBON . . . . $100 PIERCE . ... . $100 WHITE . .. . .. $100 PHGNIX . . . . . $10 CLIPPER . ... . . $100 CLIPPER . . . .. $8 SYRACUSE . .. . $100 FALCON . ... . $100 BEVATR .. .. . FOWLER . . . . . $100