The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 27, 1896, Page 1

. When the middie span of | to be taken from | the Library.++++ | RS VOLUME LXXIX.—NO. 179, SAN FRANCISCO, WEDNESDAY MORNING, MAY 27, 1896. ey PRICE FIVE CENTS. SCORES OF PEOPLE PLUNGE O DEATH A Crowded Bridge at Viec- toria Falls With Its Human Load. HURLED INTO A SWIFTLY MOVING TIDE, - Over Eighty Lives Crushed Out Beneath a Tangled Mass of Wreckage. AN ELECTRIC CAR GOES DOWN WITH ITS PASSENGERS. Appalling Disaster That Mars a Cele- bration in Honor of England’s Queen. VICTORIA, B. C., May 26.—The gayety and .jubilee with which loyal Victorians were to have celebrated the anniversary of their Queen's birth to-day were turned to sadness and mourning by an appalling acccident, in which scores of lives went out. As the thousands of revelers were trav- eling for Macaulay Point shortly after 1o’clock to witness the sham fight and naval review near the Esquimalt station, the bridge over Point Ellice Bay gave way, precipitating into the waters 100 feet be- neath a heavily loaded electric car and several private vehicles. Down upon this struggling human mass came the giant timbers of the bridge, crushing out dozens of lives. A strong tide swept ont to sea the bodies of many who escaped death in the awful plunge, and of the 200 persons who were hurled into the water scarcely half survive. The list of dead numbers upward of eighty, and the bodies of sixty-two un- fortunates have been recovered. Many of those borne away by the tide will never be found, and the sctual loss of life will probably never be known. E. B. CARMICHAEL, commission agent. J. B. Gorpox, Bradstreet’s agent. Mgs. Apams, widow of F. Adams, who was drowned in the Velos accident lasi year. J. Epmoxps, Victoria. Miss NaTHAN, Spring Ridge. J. Bosst, storekeeper, Victoria. Arraus FULLERTON, son of W. F. Ful- lerton, Spring Ridge. M=rs. HearseeBeLi, wife of William Heatherbell, Victoria. J. WiLsox, a son of Superintendent Wil. son. W. Vax BokeLs, Port Townsend, Mrss Axwie Keast, daughter of Arthur Keast, Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court, Victoria. Capri®s LEVERIDGE, Spring Ridge. Mges. G. L Post, Victoria. Master Posrt, son of the last named. ARcHIE BiceaR, aged 6 years, son of George W. Biggar. Miss Biceae, aged 9 years, daughter of George W. Biggar. Frasx Oresta, bootblack, Victoria. Miss Minnie RoserTsox, daughter of W. A. Robertson. Mzs. E. B. CARMICHAEL. Frep Apawms, son of the late Contractor Adams. —. Howrwurs, bookkeeper of the Sayward Milling Company. Miss Sopmie BaiTh, Victoria. Miss BUrT, Anacortes. Jaumes Lavrig, Victoria. WrrLiax Pearsox, Victoria. Miss TurNER, Victoria. The two Misses Bowness, Victoria. Miss F. Jacksox, Victoria. GuisserPl ROWE, son of Sergeant-Major Mulcahey. Miss Emma O1sex, Victoria. Miss Grace Evrorp, Victoria, — Jaues, Victoria. James THoMAS PATTERSON, Victoria. GaBRIEL MARRATTA, Victoria. Mgs. Tout, Beattie. Mazs. WoopHOUSE, Seattle. — Jacksow, a cattleman, Victoria. Miss Frora Jacksox, Victoria. H. Tarsor, the motorman, Victoria. Grorce FaAzrg, the conductor, Victoria, Mzs. Housax, Victoria. James Hexry Tyack, Victoria. Miss Ipa Goopacre, Victoria. A number of unidentified bodies have also been recovered, and more are being brought to the surface hourly. Among the injured are: Caxox Pavpox, Victoria, bruised and suf- focated by water. Ex-ArperMax W. A. Roserrsox, Vie- toria, head badly cot. G. W. Bicaar, Victoria, badly cut about the head. Mgs. B166aR, Victoria, badly bruised and strangled by water. Dr. Laxe, Victoria, badly bruised. The sham-fight and naval review were to take place at Macaulay Point, near Esquimalt, this afternoon, and crowds were meking their way there by every route. All the tramcars were packed with visitors. At 1:30 o'clock a large and heavily laden car left Government street, having upward of 10C people on boara. the traffic bridge, about 150 feet in length, was reached it collapsed, throwing the car and a number of carriages and foot-passengers into the water, 100 feet beneath. \The car was completely submerged, and all the passenzers save a few who were on the platform and roof were drowned. A number were killed by falling timbers and a few escaped by clinging to the floating ruins of the bridge. The car was buried under twenty-five feet of water, and doz- ens of men, women and children were pinned under the wreckage, unable to strive for life. On the surface of Victoria Arm, strug- ghng people fought to gain the shore. Strong men and frail women battled for their lives. Husbands emerged from the wreckage, only to find that their wives had gone down to death. Children were carried down by those who were stronger, and fathers also had struggled from be- neath the timbers ana debris of bridge and car and carriages returned to their doom in vain endeavor to rescue their babes. The waters of the Arm for yards around were dyed red with blood, and floating out to sea went corpse after corpse, borne on by the tide. The shrieks of men, the screams of | women and children filled the air and nerved the crowds of rescuers on to feats that endangered life and limb. The number of carriages lost and the foot-passengers carried down in the wreck cannot be learned. It is claimed by many that fully 200 persons went down with the span and that more than balf of them perished. The accident occurred recolleotion of what transpired. s The work of rescue was inaugurated with all possible haste and over thirty bodies were recovered by 4 o’clock. They were carried to Captain Grant’s garden lawn, where they were cared for by willing hands. In several cases persons seem- ingly dead were resuscitated, and the wail- ings of relatives gave way to tears of joy and words of thanksgiving. Owing to the fact that nearly every kind of craft in the harbor was engaged for the so | quickly that nobody has a very clear | down be jumped and dived. Coming up and catching a bridee timber he saw a lady rise near him and seized her. She was a Victoria woman who bad accom- panied himself and wife. Then he saw his wife’s cloak appear upon the water. He called to a man to save her, and not in vain, for the man swam to Mrs, Foster’s rescue and bore her to the land. Superintendent J. Wilson of the Cana- dian Pacific Railroad Telegraphs was driv- ing a carriage containing his wife and five children directly behind the ill-fated car. | His vehicle was swept down and in a mo- | ment the entire family were struggling in the water. With rare presence of mind Mr. Wilson succeeded in saving his wife and four of the children. The fifth child, a little boy, was wedged beneath some wreckage and drowned. Since early morniug Victoria had ‘been | filled with visitors and pleasure-seekers | hailing from nearly every section of the | Pacific Nortbwest and the list of dead in- cludes many from outside British Colum- and Oregon. From every part of the Northwest tele- grams inquiring as to the safety of friends | and relatives came pouring into Victoria from anxious ones at honte. Those of the visitors who were fortunate enough to es- cape death with disaster were correspond- ingly busy sending out cheering words of their safety and welfare. The Point Ellice bridge was built about ten years ago by the Ranfran Bridge Com- pany. It was partially of iron, with hol- low piers, filled with concrete, and had a plank flooring. Itissaid that two years ago the bridge was condemned by officials. i Four years ago, on the occasion of a for- mer Queen’s birthday celebration, a street | car filled with people in passing over it | partially broke through, but there was no | | serious injury or fatality. { It was about 300 feet long and ran across “THE CZAR bia points and the States of Washington | | | e ——— e —- e il : " z N LS R A DRAL oF THE ASSUMPTION. IS CROWNED!”—THE IMPERIAL PROCESSION AFTER THE CEREMONY. The accompanying sketch was drawn by a *“ Call ” artist from an engraving published In the London Graphic of June 9, 1883, and represents Alexander Ill, father of the pres- ent Czar, passing from the Cathedral of the Assumption to the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael after the coronation ceremony. The event took place on the 27th of May, 1883, and the ceremony performed yesterday, when Nicholas Il was crowned monarch of all the Russias, was Identical In every respect with that which took place thirteen years ago. In his right hand the Czar grasps the scepter, while the globe Is held in his left. day, boats were hard to procure, and the work of rescue was somewhat slow. Steam and naphtha launches were hurried to the scene, and in this particular the boats of the various warships were the most active. Bcores of people who were floundering in the water or clinging to the debris were picked up and taken to places of safety, but many sank before the eyes of the rescuers ere they could be reached. Thousands of sorrowing friends and relatives crowded around the approaches to the bridge, eagerly scanning each body as it was brought to land. Mothers, crazed by the loss of husbands or children, attempted to jump into the Arm in their eageriess to rescue theirloved ones. As body after boay was brought to the shore crowds rushed forward to search each mangled face, yet dreading the possibility that it might be that of some one whom they hoped had escaped from the death- trap. Up to 10:30 o’clock sixty-two bodies had been taken from the bay. Twenty persons known to have been on the bridge at the time of the accident are missing and it is supposed that they bave perished. The car register shows ninety fares and it is probable that over 125 people were on board. The rescue of some of the victims was, under the circumsiances, almost miracu- lous. - Among those saved were Mr. and Mrs. Foster of Seattle. Foster stood on the outside of the electric car and his wife was seated within. When the car went Victoria Arm, a continuation of Victoria harbor, the Arm extending up some six miles. The bridge site is on the road to Esquimalt and is within the city limits. The bridge is said to have eost about $11,000. The disaster cast a pall of gloom over the city, and all sports, including the sham battle, were at once cancelled. e Port Townsend Fiotims. PORT TOWNSEND, Wasu.,, May 26.— John A, Van Bokkelen, one of the victims in the terrible accident at Victoria this afternoon, was one of the wealthiest and most popular yonng men in this city. James McCurdy, another victim, was also well off and prominent, being the eldest son of Dr. MeCurdy, the first practicing physician in this section. LIGHTNING STRIKES A MAGAZINE. Buildings of a Powder Company in Kansas Blown Up and Lives Thought to Have Been Lost. FORT BCOTT, Kans,, May 26.—Daring a heavy electrical storm thisevening light. ning struck one of the seven large build- ings of the Laflin-Rand Powder Company at Turck, Cherokee County, Kans., and an awful explosion followed, the flame of the burning powder shooting ‘300 feet in the air, The report was heard for twenty miles. The plant was established in 1890 and cost $260,000. Owing 1o the distance of the plant from a telegraphic office no de- tails can be learned. 1t is feared that many lives were lost, as the factory runs a large night torce. BATTLES WITH INSURGENTS. When Not Killing Innocent People Spanish Soldiers Do a Little Forced Fighting. HAVANA, Cusa, May 26.—Seventeen hundred troops under General Suarez Valdez, who left Consolacion del Sur yes- terday, had a fierce engagement with a large rebel force under Maceo and Perico Diaz, which was occupying the hills of Decanso. After five hours’ fighting the position of the insurgents was captured. The rebel loss is said to be thirty-nine killed, including Major Naranjo and twe strangers. The Spaniards had twenty- seven wounded, inciading General Valdez. The rebe! band under Mirabel attacked the town of Tapaste, province of Havana, and burned nineteen houses on the out- skirts. The gunboat Lealtad has captured three boats that were abandoned on the coast near Sagua la Grande. The Spaniards are elated by the decision of the United States Supreme Court in the case of the filibustering steamer Horsa. Colonel Landa, operating around Quivi- can, this province, has Kkilled nine “Pacificos’” during the last ten days. All belonged to the farming class and were not insurgents, It is said that thirty- eight quiet people have been killed in that vicinity within 8 week. Major Lopez, of the battalion Isabella Cotilica in operation around S8an Antonio las Vegas, Havana province, between the 18th and 20th of this month killed sixteen Pacificos. These men were taken from the fields and from their houses and killed with macnetes. Zo Stand for Free Coinage. OKLAHOMA CITY, O.T., May 26.— The Territorial Democratic Convention' met here to-aay and passed resolutions favoring the free and unlimited coinage of old and silver at aratio of 16 to 1. The elegates to Chicago were instructed to stand for free coinage. eoalighion ; STANLEY CLAYCOMB CONVICTED. Robbed Graves in Order to Sell the Bodies to the Drake Medical College. OMAHA, NeBr., May 26.—The jury the Stanley Claycomb grave robbery case returned a verdict this afternoon of guilty as charged. This was the tral. on the Helin case of grave robbing, Claycomb having been acqnitted in the Larson trial. Claycomb was the man who was caught at Des Moines with two trunks in his pos- session containing human bodies. He ex- pected to dispose of them to the Drake Medical College for dissecting purposes. Later it was discovered by Omaha detect- ives that the graves of Mrs. Anna Larson and Mr. Helin at Mount Hope . Cemetery, in the outskirts of this city, had been tam- pered with and the bodies removed. The bodies shipped to Des Moines proved to be the missing ones, Iowa authorities were here to rearrest Claycomb should he es- conyiction, they having similar cases against him. —_—— MURDER AT CAMPBELLS. A Midnight Prowler Takes the Life of R. €. MoGlinoy. SAN JOSE, Car., May 27.—Word was re- ceived by the Sheriff at 1 o’clock this morning stating that R. C. McGlincy of Campbells, six miles from here, was mur- dered by a burglar. The robber struck out in the direction of San Jose. The Bheriff has gone to the scene, CREES CROSS THE BORDER. | Redskins From British Columbia Running Off Cattle and Destroying Farm- Houses. OMAHA, Nesr., May 26.—Advices re- ceivéd here to-day are to the effect that the Cree Indians, natives of British Columbia, have crossed the border into Montana and North Dakota on their hunting trips and are running off cattle and destroying farm- houses. No cases of bloodshed have oc- curred, but the settlers are greatly stirred up and have called on the Government for protection. Troops B and E of the Tenth Cavalry, located at Fort Custer, Mont., have been ordered to prepare for active service and will be used to force the ma- rauding redskins to leave the country. All leaves of absence to the officers have been canceled and instructions have been issued to absentees to immediately report for active service, Information has not yet been given out from army headquar- ters here as to when marching orders will be given. St ennl Cook Cownty Democrats. CHICAGO, Inn., May 26.—The Cook County Democratic Convention to-day elected delegates to the State Convention. The gathering was confined almost exclu- sively to the supporters of free silver, the “honest money” Democrats refusing to vote for delegates to the convention at yes- terday’s primaries. Altgeld was indorsed for Governor. ———— PARIS, France, May 25.—Large orders have been received from Moscow by rominent shippers for all descriptions of rench wines. The house of Pommery alone had orders for 325 cases of cham- pagne. CROWNED CZAR OF ALL THE RUSSIAS Climax of the Great Event Which the World Has Awaited. DAZZLING SERVICES IN THE CATHEDRAL. Only the Favored Few Witness the Coronation of Nicho- las IT and Alix. CRUSH OUTSIDE THE CHURCH TO SEE THE RULER. Voices of the Choir Mingle With the Many Bells Inside the Kremlin. MOSCOW, Russia, May 26.—The great event, for which untold preparations had been made, is over. The supreme func- tion was accomplished withoat a hiteh. The weather was perfect, and everything led the people to look forward with hope to the reign of Nicuolas II, the ruler of millions. The proclamation issued to-day by the Czar on the occasion of his coronation prescribes various remissions, of which the following are the principal: All arrears of taxes in European Russia and Poland are remitted, and the land tax is reduced by Lalf for ten years. The sentences of exiles in Siberia are materially reduced, political offenders re- ceiving further remissions. with the res- toration of their civil rights in certain cases. The ex-Ministers of the Interior and Justice are empowered to submit to the Czar deserving cases of those pun- ished after a regular trial. Those persons who shared in the Folish rebellion who are not guilty of murder, cruelty, arson or robbery are exempted from the police supervision decreed in 1883, and ars granted full freedom of residence if they return to their own country and take the oath of allegiance. To-day was the chief day of all those given up to the coronation ceremonies. The weather was fine and the sky cloudless. The Kremlin, which was the center of ate traction, was early surrounded by.waiting crowds, who had no possible chance of getting inside, but were satisfied to see what they could outside the walls. Troops headed by bands of music beean moving at4 o'clock in the morning, marching to the Kremlin. /At 7 o'ciock a salvo of twenty-one guns was firea and 7:30 the bells of the cathedral began to peal. Assembled in the halls of the Kremlin Palace were all of the personages forming the Czar’s cortege, the ladies of the court, noted dignilaries, officers in uniform, etc. All of the accesses to the palace and the cathedral, as well as the route of the im- verial cortege, were guarded by double lines of troops, and round and within the courts of the palace were squadrons of cavalry. Orowds thronged the streets at an early hour, and those who were fortu- nate enovgh to possess cards of admission to the smali Cathedral of the Assumption, where the coronation ceremonies were solemnized, were early at the Kremlin, seeking their places. A definite place had been allotted to each, as the space within the cathedral is exceedingly small, and no o¢ne outside of members of the imperial family, the for- eign sovereigns, princes or their repre= sentatives, the diplomatic corps and a favored few were able to enter the sacred precincts. A mass of people filled the great Red square. No one was allowed within the Kremlin walls without a ticket until the ceremony began, as even here thousands had to be accommodated whe could not hope to see the coronation act itself, but only the accompanying cere- monies which took place without the cathedral. The famous red staircase leading up by the side wall of the Granovitaya Palace into the Kremlin Palace, down which the royal party came, was covered with crime son cloth. The Cathedrals of the Assump- tion, the Annunciation and the Arch- ungel were connected by means of a wide wooden path carpeted with crimson cloth, stretching from the red staircase and branching off to the doors of the cathe- drais and to the entrances of the large square of the Kremlin, through which their Majesties would pass on making the circuit of the catbedrals and the Ivan Tower, after being crowned, in order to show themselves to the populace. Within the inclosure formed by the pathways were deputations from various regiments and civil deputies from the provinces. Just before it was time for the Czarto appear at the top of the Red Square the broad spaces of the Kremlin were densely packed with perhaps 100,000 people, pre ss« ing closely up to the very fence of the inner square between the cathedrals. At a little before 8 o'clock the special correspondents were allowed to view the interior of the cathedral, as only a few of the representative correspondents could be accommodated at the ceremony itselt, The cathedral, with its white sandstone exterior, surmounted by its five golden domes, presented a most brilliant appear- ance within. The available room within the cathedral is abous eighty feet square, and this is broken by enormous eircular pillars and some monuments distributed throughout the church. The Ikonstas, which, like a screen, divides the chancel from the nave, is covered with repousse work of beaten gold and hung with ecclesiastical paintings, some of which are very ancient, and more than one has miraculous powers ascribed to it. Plates of gold cover the walls, and there is scarcely any space that is not coated with precious metals or stones. In one shrine covered with gold, silver and precious stones is an image of the Virgin of enormous value, under which lie the bones and ashes of the vencrated saints. Between the four pillars in the center ok