The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 14, 1896, Page 1

VOLUME LXXX.—NO. 75. INSENTS TURNING The Arctic Explorer Lands at a Port on Vardo Island. PARTIAL SUCCESS OF HIS CRUISE. Traversed the Polar Sea to a; Point North of the New | Siberians. THE FRAM IS NGW SAILING HOMEWARD. Expected to Arrive Off the Coast of Norway Within a Short Tim-e. VARDO, Tste or Varpo, Aug. 9.—Dr. Nansen, the Arctic explorer, arrived here to-day. He says that his exvedition at- tained one of its objects in iraversing the Polar Sea to a voint northward of the New Siberian Islands, viz.: to latitude 86 deg. 14 min. north. No land was sighted north of latitude 82 deg. After reaching the parallel of 86.14 the expedition went south to Franz Josefs Land, where it spent the winter, the mem- bers subsisting on bear flesh and blubber. Dr. Nensen arrived here on the steamer Windward, which is conveying provisions to the Jackson-Harmsworth expedition. | The explorer is perfectly well. The | Fram is expected to arrive at Vardo or | Bergen in a short time. All was well on | board of her when Dr. Nansen left her. | On February 13 the world was startled by the report that Dr. Nansen had found land at the north pole, and had planted | the Norwegian flag there. It has been | waiting since then for a aenial or confir- mation of that news. It has now received & denial, and yet the voyage of Nanson was not barren of results. Dr. Fridtjof Nansen is a Norwegian scientist in the prime of life, beirg in his thirty-fourth year. He entered the univer- sity at Christiania in 1880, and in 1882 went as a passenger in the sealing steamer Viking to Denmark Straits and the east coast of Greenland, where the vessel be- came tcebound in the pack for twenty- four days. He was appointed curator of tne museum at Bergen in 1882, when he undertook the leadership of asmall expe- dition, consisting.of six men all told, to Greenland, and crossed the southern por- tion of that country from the east coast to Godhaab, on the west, where the party wintered, returning to Norway in June, | 1889. Nansen then conceived the ides of un- | dertaking an expedition to the north pole by a new route and in a vessel of special construction. He would build a strongly braced vessel, get himself frozen in the ice at & point near where the Jeannette was | lost, and drift right across the Arctic with the ice pack over the pole—or so close to it that the pole could be reached by a dash over the ice, or over the land, if land should be found. The expedition sailed from Christiana June 24, 1863.. The doctor's plan was to make for the New Siberian Islands, and thence #ail directly north till the Fram should be imbedded in the ice, then drift along with it, following the west coast of any land that might be met. The doctor sent a dispatch from Vardoe, August 23, 1893, written by Charabowa in the Yugorski Straits on the 2d of that | month, reporting that he was about to | sail into the Kara Sea, and that so far the | Fram had behaved splendidly, especially | in foreing her way through the ice. AMERICAN LABOR GREETS THE CHAMPION OF PROSPERITY. A dispatch from London, March 4of last year, announced that a letter dated at Kjolleford, February 24, had reached Hammerfest, Norway, announcing thata telegraph inspector at a mountain station ‘[bnlweeu Lebesy and Langjford saw a | balloon moving in a southeasterly direc- 1ion and believed that it was possibly car- rying dispatches from Dr. Nansen. The Norwegian Parliament gave Dr. Nansen about $52,600 in ajd of his expedi- tion, and many private subscriptions, in- cluding one of over $5000 from King Oscar, were added to the fund. Dr. Nansen’s companions were Captain Otto Sverdrup, ship's master; Sigurd Scott Hansen, lieutenant in the Norwe- gian navy and director of the astronom- ical, meteorological and magnetic obser- vations; Henrik Blessing, surgeon and botanist; Theodore Jacobsen, mate; Peder Hendriksen, harpooner; Anton Amundsen, chief engineer; Lars Petter- sen, second engineer; Hjalmar Johan- neson, officer in the Norwegian army, fireman; Bernard Nordahl, electrician; Ivan Mogstad, carpenter; and Adolf Juell, steward. Thedoctor married in September, 1889, Miss Eva Sars, youngest daughter of the late professor of zoology in the University of Curistiana, M. Sars, and has one child, a daughter. Mrs. Nansen, who has a powerful, musical voice, became a profes- sional singer in her maiden days, and | since her marriage has appeared before the public on various oceasions. REMOVED 1TH REGISTRAR. Silas Penry to duccerd Thomas Fraser at Sacramento WASHINGTON, D. C., Aug. 13.—The President has appointed Silas Penry of California registrar of the land office at Bacramento. George Crosby, also of Cali- fornia, is named as receiver of public moneys at the same place. SACRAMENTO, CAL., Aug. 13.—Thomas Fraser, the present registrar, does not be- lieve that he has been supplanted, as his term does not expire until December. He thinks that some error was made in the dispatch and that Crosby was avppointed receiver, while Silas Penry was appointed to succeed Crosby as Indian agent in Amador County. The Daring Explorer Who Is Returning From a Quest of the North Pole. FLOCDS FOLLOW HEAT'S CARNIVAL. Furious Storm at Pittsburg and Many Surround- ing Points. FIVE PERSONS PERISH. Cecil’s Disaster of Two Weeks Ago Is Repeated at Dehaven. GREAT DAMAGE TO PROPERTY. Four Inches of Rain Fell in One Hour. Many Brave Rescues and Narrow Escapes. PITTSBURG, Pa., Aug. 13.—A violent thunder and rainstorm visited Pittsburg and points within a radius of thirty miles of the city shortly after 8 o’clock this morning, resulting in the death of five persons and the destruction of wuch prop- erty. The storm expended its greatest fury in the valley of Pine Creek, in Hampton Township, a few miles from this city. At Dehaven, 2 small station on the Pittsburg and Western Railroad, what is popularly called a cloudburst occurred. Pine Creek, usually a sluggish stream, was converted Into a roaring river that swept up the hill- sides, wrecked houses, demolished a large part of the Butler plank road, blocked the ! Pittsburg and Western Road, killed live- stock and ruined farms. Four of the peo- ple who lost their lives were drowned at | Dehaven, and one near the mouth of the creek at Etna. The dead are: Mrs. Susan Auld, widow, 74 years of age. Mrs. Sarah Poppleton, widow, aged 60 years. Mrs. James Robinson, aged 35 years, These were drowned at Dehaven, and Emil Schoeffele, a newsboy, aged 15, was drowned at Etna. An unknown man was drowned above Dehaven and his body has not yet been recovered. The disaster at Dehaven which resulted in the drowning of three women and an unknown man, was 1dentical, even to the details, with the catastrophe which swept. eight people to death at Cecil, Pa., two weeks azo. The only difference was that the €ecil flood happened in the evening and this one in the morning. 3 Soon after daylight dark clouds besan to gather north of the little village. Rain bad begun to fall about 7 o’clock, but the shower, thought persistent, was not heavy. An hour later, however, it sud- denly seemed as if the floodgates of heaven had been opened and the water came down in an almost unbroken sheet. To add to the terror it was as black as night. Mrs. Sarah Poppleton, a widow, lived in a two-story frame house at the head of the town with her daughter. As the stream rose to the doors of her house she began to cry for help. J.C. McAuley, who iives two houses below, heard her screams, and wading through the rapidly rising flood took her and her 10-year-old daughter Barah into the house of James Robinson, which stood on the other side of the road. In a small one-story cottage below and within ten yards of the Poppleton house, Mrs. Auld and her two grandsons, John, aged 12, ana Wesley, aged 10, were im- prisoned and they were shrieking for aid. They, too, were takeh to the Robinson house. Immediately after the Auld hovse was carried sway and it first lodged against a tree. All the rubbish that the house carried was piled against it. Finally PRICE FIVE CENTS, /“‘.’”'I‘fl I it broke and the entire mass of debris was carried against the Robinson house, which could not withstand the shock. There was not a vestige of the house left. The body of Mrs. Poppleton was found several hours afterward in a cornfield just below the town. Mrs, Robinson was found at Burcnfield, two miles below, and the body of Mrs. Auld was not recovered until late in the day, and then far down the stream. Little John and Wesley Auld, floating on part of the side of the house, managed to cling to trees and were rescued an hour later. James Robinson also succeeded in reaching a tree with a three-year-old baby. Charles Smith saved little Sarah Poppleton by swimming after her. Fred- erick Poppleton and McAuley were carried further than any of the others, but near the lower end of the town they also gota refuge in the trees. All of these were eventually rescued. In the little village great excitement prevailed. There were many narrow es- capes in Dehaven and the village of Burchfield four miles below, but all those in danger were rescued at great peril. ‘While the storm was at its worst in De- .baven an unknown man was seen coming down the stream on the roof of an out- building. He disappeared from view and his body was afterward seen further down the stream, but could not be reached. The flood subsided almost as quickly as it rose, leaving the main street of the vil- lage strewn with debris, It is estimated that in one hour not much less than four inches of rain fell. In Pittsburg the water-gauge showed a downfall of 2.21 inches between 8 and 1:30 o'clock. At Irwin, Pa., and minor stations on the Pennsylvania Reilroad a flood was caused by tbe bursting of dams on Brush Creek and Tinker Run. More than sixty houses were partislly submerged, and there were MAaDYy rescues M'flqfigfi, but no lossot life is reported. At Irwin the Penn- sylvania Railroad platform was swept away with the freight that wasonit. A number of manufacturing establishments suffered damage which will amount to thousands of dollars. .ty New York’s Deathroll Decreas. NEW YORK, N. Y., Aug. 13.—The total number of deaths from heat to-day was thirty-six, which is a marked falling off from the record of the previous two days. The total number of heat prostrations was 144, or less than onesthird of the number of the previous d SPAIN LODKS T0 GROVE Rumor That the President Will Take Radical Steps Against the Cubans. Protracted Battles and Insignificant Results Continue to Be Reported From Havana. NEW YORK, N. Y., Aug. 13—A special dispatch to the Herald from Havana says: The Diario de la Marina prints a special irom Madrid to the effect that President Cleveland will soon take radical steps in favor of the Spanish cause 1n the Cuban question, which are calculated to produce a great sensation throughout the world. The correspondent bases his prediction on the editorial leader in La Correspond- encia de Espana, commenting on the re- cent conference between- the Duke of Tetuan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Minister Taylor in San Sebastian. The Spanish press in general here com- pliments Sagastas on his bellicose utter- ances. The rebel forces under the leadership of Sartorius in Havana province Tuesday made an unsuccessful attempt to raid the towns of Alquizar and San Felipe. In each instance, however, the rebels were promptly repulsed by Spanish sharpshoot- ers in the forest on the outskirts. The loss was trifling. Unofficial advices received here detail a hot engagement at San Miguel station of the Havana and Matanzas Railway Tues. day between General Ochoa’s. troops and Valencia’s insurgent forces. The fight lasted from 7 o’clock in the morning until noon. Despite the superior number of the rebels and their repeated charges on the Spanish troops General Ochoas bravely held his position until the enemy dispersed in various directions, carrying their dead and wounded. . 8ix Spanish soldiers were wounded, but none were killed. The resi- dents of San Miguel, who witnessed the fight, enlogize the deportment of Ochoa’s men. Colonel Guadalajara’s battalion, operat- ing around Jaruco, reports a four hours’ engagement yesterday morning with the rebels commanded by Aguirre, Mirabel and Araguen in the Castilla hllls, near Ojo de Agua. The rebels were finally driven from their position afier sixteen were killed. Six Spanish soldiers were wounded, three mortally. 5 ; —— ¥OUNG GRIFFO'S SENTENCE. Will Train’ for a Year in 3 - Prison. BROOKLYN, N. Y., Aug. 18.—Young Griffo, the pugilist, to-day pleaded guilty to’ the indictment charging him with as- sault on William Gottlieb last spring. He ‘was sentenced to one year’simprisonment, a New York SEES THE FUTURE; FORGETS THE PAST Strange Faculty Possessed by a Chicago Hospital Patient. NATURE’S HIDDEN FORCE A Californian Who Accurately Forecasts Events That Are to Occur. HIS MEMORY EAS DEPARTED. Queer Mental Phenomenon Induced by Attempted Suicide by Asphyxiation. PORTLAND, Or.; Aug. 13.—One of the most remarkable mental phenomena ever brought to the attention of medical scien- tists is now puzzling the physwn ofa Chicago hospital. Tt is that of a young Californian who forecasts future events accurately, them as ordinary persons would events of the past, while his meniory of even the most recent hap- penings has disappeared. On the' Fourth of July last ¥ranklin Hart, a young man from California, visit- ing friends on the East Side, suddenly dis- appeared. As mnothing was heard of or from the missing man after the lapse of several days his father, living in Trinity County, Cal., was communicatéd with. He at once came to Portland and Detec- tive W. H. Welsh was placed at his dis- posal to find his son. About the 23d of July the fact was established that young making of a professional record, and young Hart’s life was saved. His mind, though, was left in a phenomenal condition. ““While Franklin’s physical condition is 80 good that he will be able to leave the hospital in a day or two,” writes Hart, “his mental state startles me. His mental vision is supernaturally perspective, in- stead of being retrospective, and the physicians here tell me that there is no parallel case on record in any part of the civilized . globe. They claim that thne phenomenon demonstrated in my son’s mentality is one of the many hidden forces in human nature. In ordinary con- versation Franklin 1s as lucid as ever, yet it is difficult for him to recall past events without hard study. For instance, when I referred to his Portland visit and his de- | parture from there, it took him tw¥o days | to recall the more important events, as they had altogether passed from his | memory since the almost tragic affair at the Palmer House.” 3 The writer adds that the phenomenon in his son’s mind consists of his mental | anticipation of events; as, for instance, the day prior to Mr. Hart’s arrival in Chicago Franklin repeated almost verbatim to the doctor attending him the conversation he had with his father eight hours later. The singular and unheard-of metamor- phosis of young Hart's mental vision | consists of its . power to read | all manner of events, even of the most trifling import, forty-eight hours in ad- vance, with the same distinct clearness that the healthy, normal mind conjures up the past. Another remarkable condition of Frank- lin’s mind, writes Hart, is that after the consummation of an event which he has forecast he 1s utteriy unable to remem- ber it. “‘Last Frday,” conciuded the writer, “Franklin told me that he on that day re- ceived a letter from his mother. I knew it was an hallucination, but I asked him what it contained, so he repeated to me what he imagined had been written to him. The day following he, indeed, got a letter from his mother, without the slight- est variation from his prophetic rgvela- tion. Every hour in the day my son startles me and the doctors by some evi- dence of his wonderful mental vision.” In conclusion, Hart writes that before returning home with his son he will take him to New York, where he will consult the best specialists on mental diseases, and, if necessary, he will take the young man to Burope if there is any possibility of restoring him to his normal mental health, CONVICTED AT HOLLISTER. Life Imprisonment the Punishment Meted Meted to the Slayer of Charles Hardwick. HOLLISTER, CaL., Aug. 13.—1t took a jury just twenty minutes to-day to decide the fate of Francis M. Conkling, the mur- derer of Charles N. Hardwick in this county in February, 1895. The verdict was guilty of murder in the first degree, with the penalty fixed atimprisonment for life. Only one juror wasin favor of hanging. < This was Conkling’s second trial, he having been convicted of murder in the first degree and sentenced in May, 1895, The Supreme Court granted him a new trial on the ground that the jurors went outside the courtroom and experimented to test the truthfulness of his evidence. The present case was tried before Judge Conley of Madera. .Hardwick was the lessee of a tract of land over which Conkling had been in the habit of traveling, but the road had been MOURNING N NOGALES, Seven Defenders of the Town Borne to the Grave. PURSUIT OF THE BAND OF RAIDERS. Large Forces Sent to Capture a Yaqui Gang Camped on American Soil. FEAR OF A SECUND ATTACK IS PAST The Filibusters Not Likely to Return After Their Defeat of Wednesday. NOGALES, 8oxorA, Aug. 13.—News was brought to. town this afiernoon that a large band of Yaqui Indians was camped at Huevavi, on the Santa Cruz River, eight miles north of Nogales, in the United States. A company of soldiers under Colo~ nel Bacon left on special train at 3 o’clock to capture them. If the Yaquis are found to be an armed body they will be taken on suspicion of being members of the gang that raided Sonora yesterday. Four of the Indians engaged in the fight were trailed towara this camp this morning. Colonel Kosterlitki, with forty picked men, started to-night on the trail of the filibusters. He will be joined by a com- pany of Mexican cavalry, which arrived at 4 o’clock this afternoon. A number of the Indians are still in the mountains on the Mexican side of the line, and soldiers will attempt to bring them out. The seven officers and citizens slain in yesterday’s battle were buried to-day. The entire town was in mourning, as all were well liked. Juan Fernandez was the cash- ier of the Mexican custom-house, and a relative of high officials in the Mexican Government. He and Chief of Police Ponciano Sanchez were killed by the Indians from ambush and did not get & chance for life. It is believed the revolution .is at an ‘end, for a time at least, as the Ind: met with such a hot reception that they will not likely attempt it again. Every one caught on the Mexican side supposed to be a sympathizer will be arrested. Late last night another man was caught going out with provisions and smmuni- tion on the route taken by the Indiansin their retreat. This makes three prisonars taken. Soldiers will be kept on both sides of the line until the excitement is over. One company of United States cavalry arrived at the line to-night from Fort Huachuca, ot A i THE MEXICAN CUSTOM-HOUSE AT NOGALES, SONORA. Around this building the battle of Wednesday between Santa Teresa’s fanatics and citizens of the town waged furiously for hours. The revolutionists gained an entrance to the building after slaying two of the guards, but were repulsed with heavy loss. Hart did not commit suicide here, for the data in a transcontinental railway office showed that on the afternoon of the 4th of July he bought a tourist’s ticket to Chicazo. Why he should do this without saying a word to anyv of his friends was another mystery requiring clearing up. Hart returned to California on July 31, not entirely hopeless though, for he re- quested the Chicago authorities to com- municate with him directly should hisson be found. The most startling phase of this episode is narrated in a letter from the elder Hart, written in Chicago and received here yes- terday. The old gentleman relates tifat when he reached home be found a tele- gram awaiting him, announcing the dis- covery of his son ina Chicago hospital. He lost no time 1n reaching that city, find- ing Franklin in the County Hospital, in a convalescent condition. 2 i ‘Hart ascertained that his son arrived in Chicago on July 12, stopping® at the Pal- mer House. On the second night there he actually did attempt suicide by asphyxia- tion with gas. When discovered his chances for recovery were sbout one in a hundred. The peculiarity of the case spurred on the doctors in the County Hospital, whither he was sent, to extra- ordinary efforts, solely, perhaps, for the | closed and Conkling forbidden to use it. On the day before the killing he destroyed the fence across the road and the next day came down armed with a rifle. Prior to his return Hardwick went with a hatchet to mend the gap and shortly after Conk- ling passed. Harawick was found dead by his young brother at dusk, lying flat on his face close to the fence, a bullet having penetrated his left arm, sixth rib and the heart and lungs. Conkling in his defense claimed that Hardwick threw a rock at him and started toward him with a hatchet, when he shot t6 save himself. L g Start for Crater Lake. ASHLAND, Or., Aug. 18.—Some sixty- five members of.the Mazama Society from Portland and various sections of the Northwest, beside several from California points, arrived here on last night's and this morning’s trains. A crowd of forty started on the excursion to Crater Lake this morning. Others will stapt later in the week. A large number of people are at Medford, where a start for the same destination is to be made. Accommoda- tions have been arranged for 200 excur- sionists. Among the members of the party is the United States Fish Commis- sion. . A sea serpent that is seen in Crater Lake periodically is reported to have showed up during the past week to lend an additional attraction, to remain in this vicinity until all danger is past. PR RN, SANTA TEKESA’S FOLLOWERS, Strange Fanaticism Created by Faith in Her Power to Heal. Dr. H. E. McVay, post surgeon at the Alcatraz Island military station, spent several months in Arizona and is able to give an interesting description of Nogales and the fanatics who made the attack on the .Mexican portion of the town on Wednesday. Dr. McVay in 1893 was de- tailed as surgeon and physician to the International Boundary Commission that acted 1n conjunction with a Mexican com- mission in the re-establishment of the boundary line between the United States and Mexico. The first boundary was established in 1855 by Major Emory, but in subsequent years cowboys desiring to ceeupy desirable lands south of the line removed the small monuments over on Mexican soil, sometimes two miles from theline. In many instances the Apache Indians destroyed the monuments alto- gether out of sheer devilment. The monuments put-up by the com- mission consisted of concrete bases, granite blocks and 600-pound bolted shafts of cast iron, six feet high. These extend from