The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 30, 1896, Page 1

VOLUME . LXXXT.— PRICE FIVE CENTS. CRUSOE'S ISLAKD REPORTED SUNK The Historic Spot Said to Have Been Swallowed by the Sea. Some Interesting Photos Taken Lately by Captain Powles. A Beautiful Spot Made Famous by Defoe May Have Disap- peared. 1f the reports of various sailors and sea captains may be believed the famous ssland of Juan Fernandez is no more, Like thousands of dots in the ocean it has ‘dlsappeared from sight completely as if swallowed by tellurion forces. Whether true or false the story creates widespread interest, for if the gods of the sea have arisen and condemned Robinson Crusoe’s island as if it were a wisp of paper, as sea captains say, interest in the event will be as widespread as civilization itSelf. The rumor of the complete disavpear- ance of the island was first circulated ‘sev- | eral weeks ago by a sea captain at Lisbén, but the report was at first discredited. The queer story was yiven authentic veri fication a few days ago, however, by Cap- tain Powles. % Captain Powles does not say that the | famous island has disappeared, but he | does say that while on his way from New- castle, N. 8. W., for Valparaiso recently, he was within speaking distance of,the Lock Garry and was later oft Cumberland Bay, the place on Fernandez Island where | Crusoe was cast ashore. g He did not think anything about the matter until his chance encounter with the story at Valparaiso. Thére heread a | paragraph in one of the local papersto | the effect that the island had disappeared. | One of the trading steamers had been un- | able to find the island, so ran tbe story, | and had returned to port with the news | that Juan Fernandez had been submerged. | If it be a fact that the famous isiand has disappeared the pictures taken by Cap- tain Powles, accompanying this descrip- tion, are doubtless the last ever taken. The captain is an expert amateur photog- rapher, and he took the accompanying pictares during his last trip. It is interesting in connection with the many rumors of the disappearance of this famous spot of earth torecall the tact that the island of Juan. Fernapdez was well | known ages before Defoe conceived the 1dea of making it the home of his wonder- | ful hero, Robinson Crusoe. The island lies, or did he, about 400 miles southwest of Valparaiso, Chile, and the story of its com- plete disappearance is not by any measns | OFF CUMBERLAND BAY, ISLAND OF JUAN FERNANDEZ. This is a composition by Coulter from photographs taken by Captain Powles of the British ship James Kerr. In the background rises the outline of the famous island of Juan Fernandez, for years the home of Alexander Selkirk. In the middle foreground is the British ship Loch Garry, while to the left is the James Kerr, standing to the northward and eastward with her port tacks aboard. The view of Juan Fernandez is undoubtedly the last one taken before the island was swallowed by the sea. valley opened feeding the bay with the | water collecteGfrom the streams in the ravines flowingdown to the level. . This valley wa: cultivated by the 100 or so people living on' the land. Pigs and goats, descendants from anhcestors left by sailors, were in abundarnce until recently, when the Chileans, waking their abode on the isiand, destroye: them. The island was long since abandoned as a Chilean military post, and wis regarded moreasa ctriosity by passing ships than as hav- ing any importance whatever. But Juan Fernande: has an interesting history apart from thai with which Defoe CAPTAIN T. Y. POWLES of the British Ship James Kerr, the Last Man Who Is Believed to Have Seen the Island of Juan Fernandez Before It Sank Benmeath the Waters of the Pacific. [From a photograph made by Captain Powles.] improbable from the fact thatthe island has in recent years been violently shaken br earthquakes. Fernandez has always been described as a picturesque spot four miles wide by | thirteen in length, but it contains all that | is necessary to sustain life. The climate has always been described as pleasant and healthful, the principal productions being oats, turnips, apples, strawberries, melons, peaches and figs. Wild goats have always been described as abundant, while large quantities of excellent fish are taken ®rom the coast each year. In fact, the isiand has for years been leased to a prominent fish ¢éompany by the Chilean Government. Careful students of history ana litera- ture believe that the prototype of Defoes Robinson Crusoe was Peter Serrano, a Spaniard, who was wrecked on an isiand in the Caribbean Sea, not far from the outh of the Orinoco, in the sixtcenth Wentury. Tradition says he lived there in solitude for many years and was finally carried away on a trading vessel. An account of the adventures of Ser- rano was given in Sir Paul Rycan?’s trans- lation of a series of commentaries on Pern, published in London and studied by Defoe before he wrote the famous story of “Robinson Crusoe.” ' The island of Juan Fernandez ,was thrown up from the earth in a series of precipitous rocks irrezularly piled to- gether. The highest of these was Alex- ander Belkirk’s lockout—a peak about 8000 feet in height. The haibor was called Cumberiand Bay, into which a wide investsit. It was discovered toward .the end of the sixteenth century by a Spanish sailor of the same name. Fernandez ob- tained it from the Spanish Government and lived upon it for several years.. He stocked it with pigs and zoats, but soon grew tired of living alone and aban- doned it. In 1616 it was visited by Spanish and Portuguese sailors, who found it well stocked with pigs and goats, and its waters abounding in fish. Three soldiers and three gunners were left upon it, but his- tory does not record what became of them. For almost a century after that the island was frequented by pirates. In 1688 the buccaneer Sharp left five men on the island. Twenty years later another bue- caneer left five more men, who lived there | for five years, and were rescued by Cap- | tain - John Story of the English ship Welfare. £ In the year 1704 the Cingue Port wovie” Juan Fernandez 1o recover five men wiiow the master, Captain btraddling, had 'ma- rooned there four years® before. Alex- | ander Setkirk was his mate, and mate and captain had a falling out. Selkirk insisted |on being left on the island rather than sail the seas with such a man as Strad- dling. The captain accommodated him, and thus made Alexander the hero of every boy that has !ived since his time. After five years of exile on the island Selkirk was rescued by Captain Wood Rogers and his ship Duke. It has been doubted whether Defoe ever possessed the marooned man’s journal, but s story was thrilling and the vivid imagination of the author of ‘‘Robinson Crusoe”’ did the rest. The mention of this historic bit of land jutting up from the bed of the Pacific recalls the name of Daniel Defoe, a house- hold word heard around the globe. But no living person now bears the name, for the last scion of that race is buried in this City. Several months ago a young sailor ar- rived here in an English ship and was dis- charged from his vess:. He was the great-great-great-grandson of the novel- ist, and, like his famous rslative, was named Daniel Defoe. His story was told exclusively in THE CALL, a reporter of this journal interviewing him immediately on his arrival. He was au intelligent, quiet young feilow, and in the interview frankly stated that he pre- ferred Marryatt’s stories to ‘“Robinson Crusoe.” He subsequently died in the City Receiving Hospital from consump- tion. . IT CO8TS TO BE PRIMATE, But Then Dr. Temvle Has a Salary of 875,000 a ¥ear. LONDON, Eng., Dec. 29.—It costs al- most as much in the way of gratuities to become Primate of ail England as it does to receive the Order of the Garter or a knighthooa at the hands of the Queen. Yesterday Dr. Temple, the Archbishop of Canterbury-elect, for warded to the proper official a check for £1500 or $7500, repre- senting the first moiety of the iees, remem- brances and gratuities attached to the ceremonies of his enthronement at Can- terbury. This amonut will be distributed among the deans, vergers, beadles and other minor reguiar and special at- taches. The enthronement takes place on Friday, January 8, instead of New Year’s day, as previous! nounced. . ——— Havoc of the Plague in India. BOMBAY, Inpia, Dec. 29.—The health statistics show that up 1o vesterday there have been 2094 cases and 1494 deaths from the bubonic plague which is epidemic in this city. People are still fleeing from the city, but the plazue continues to inmcrease. Martial law is threatened upon the'na- tives failing 10 obey the sanitary regula- tions to the letter. Valparaiso. The Accompanying Sketch Shows the Coas of Chile and the Island “in the Distance. 2 (00D OFFCE NOT ACCEPTED fom H Denials From vM.adfid as - to the Settlement of the War. Spain, However, Is Preparing to Give Cubars a Large Meas- ure of Home Rule. Many Refecrms Are Promised, but It Is a Question Whether Patriots Will Accept Thaem MADRID, £paix, Dec. 20.—An emphatic semi-official denial is given to the state- ments cabled here as coming from the ‘Washington Post to the effect that Secre- tary of State Olney and Senor Dupay de Lome, the Spanish Minister to the United States, had practically terminated their negotiations on the Cuban question and detailing the extent of.the reformc' that Spain would grant to Cuba under the guarantee of the United States. It is also semi-officially denied that the Government has questioned Great Britain, France and Italy regaraing their attifude in the eventof a war with the United r .D. C., Dec. 29.—While itis not true that the Spanish Govern- ment will accept the mediation of the United States in giving autonomy to Cuba, it has been known for some weeks that the Spanish Ministry propose giving the Cubans a larger measure of home rule than they bave heretofore enjoyed. President Cleveland has been repeatedly assured that these reform would be inaugurated when the province of Pinar del Rio had been pacified. It was in this province that General Maceo and his fol- lowers have been located for the last year, and since Maceo’s death the work of pacification ‘has been considerably expe- dited. ‘The time is. not far distant when the home-rule reforms will be instituted there and also in-the provinces of Matanzas and Havara, where the insurgents have never secured a foothold. ‘Tt has been frequently asserted that Spanish intended reforms would bave been put in operation two years ago but for the insurrection and that the insurgents started the rebellion in order to prevent the reforms. These reforms embrace the election of a Cuban Congress, instead of a mixed con- gress of fifty elected members and fifty appointed by the Queen Regent, and aiso a complete control by Cuba of her tariff. The Spanish Ministry are understood to be engaged in drafting the proposed re- forms, but thus far the only knowledge re- garding them is of a general nature. 1Itis believed that they would be completed #ithin the next fortnight, and it is not unlikely that a copy will be cabled to Sec- retary Oiney, by permission of the Span- ish Government. G 5 ! B AN # WILL PASS 1BE SENATE. Vice- President Stevenson Zalks About thé Cameron Resolulion. NEW YORK, N. Y., Dec. 29.—A special to the Herald from St. Lounis says: “The Cameron resolution recognizing the re- public of Cuba will, in my opinion, be sure’ to pass the Senate,” declaréd Vice- President Stevenson: “I am not so sure about its fate in the House, but I believe "Captain-General that it will goto the President. I would like to say more, but I am not Precident. I 'have no opinion to give of Mr. Cleveland’s probable action, because I have not talked with hip. You know, all the papers know as nuch about the President’s ideas as I do. Ithink he bds ntly indicated thew. W fter March # whether ) @ of the Cuban republic would be Lh_e cause of war or not.”” At mnl COLBY'S ARMY FOR CUBA. Tninks He Can Ensily Secure From 10,000.to 20,000 Men. LINCOLN, NEBRr., Dec. 29.—General L. ‘W. Colby of Beatrice, who has taken upon himself the task of forming an American army to fight for Cuban independence, will start for the East in a few days, stop- ping at Chicago, Cleveland and New York. From the latter place he will sail for Cuba in an individual capaeity to look over the ground. In the courseof an extended interview with the United Asso- ciated Presses to-day he said: ““The conditions in favor of Cuban inde- vendence are improving daily, and the Senate of the United States has sounded the keynote of thetrue American policy. Our Government and citizens stould give substantial aid and recognition to every people ‘on the American continent strug- gling ' for liberty and' self-government. The Cubans are by right a part of us, and no monarchy sho uld be permitted 10deny them the right of self-government right here under the shadow of the 'stars and stripes.” 2 As to the progress that is being made for the organization of an American vol- unteer army in aid of the Cubans, General Colby said: “ **The organization is progressing; com- panies have been formed and enlisted in many of the States and Territories, and there isno question about obtaining from 10,000 to 20,600 able-bodied volunteers. And let me tell you that'when once an armed legion of from 10,000 to 20,000 American volunteerslands in Cuba with the necessary subsistence for thirty days a public sentiment will be created that will place 50,000 re-enforcements in condi- tion to follow in a few weeks. Those de- siring to give aid to Cuban liberty and in- dependence should organize into com- panies in the different localities and write to me at Beatrice, Nebr., for enlistment papers and instructions. Let American sentiment and patriotism be once crystal- lized into organization and =action and Cuban liberty will be an easily accom- plished fact.” General Colby is confident of receiving substantial encouragement in the Bast. —_— DISCREDITED BY OFFICALS. Alleged Exploit of the Three Friends Not Reported to the Spanish Legation. WASHINGTON, D. C.,, Dec. 29.—The officials of the Spanish legation say that if there had been the slightest shrea of truth in the sensational stories published about the Three Friends firing upon Spanish gunboats they would have been vromptly informed of the facts by acting Ahumada in Havana, and it would have been the imperative duty of the Spanish legation to have de- manded the surrender of the boatand its officers to the Spanish Government, to be dealt with according to the universally recognized law of nations. Absolutely no report of any such alleged ana absurdly improbable occurrence has been received. Moreover the Spanish legation is taking no interest in the trial of the Three Friends in the United States court at Jacksonville. “This is the fifth time she has been libeled,” said a prominent member of the legation, “‘and Isuppose sbe will be re- leased as usual.” o S B 84Y5 HE S4W MACEO, A Paspenger on a Irain Declares the General Yet Lives. NEW YORK, N. Y., Dec. 29.—An offi- cer of the steamer Vigilancia, which ar- rived from Havana yesterday, said that while the vessel lay at Havana he learnea from several Cubans in that city that the belief prevailed there among the adherents to the Cuban cause that Maceo was not murdered. He is now planning a coup d’etat in Mantanzas. They base their be- lief on a story told by a passenger on a train which skirts the boundary of the previnee of Matanzas, who declared that he sew General Maceo passing ueprthe train with his troops as the train moved slotviy along. The officers of the steamship bad seen nothing 6f the filibuster Three Friends snd were surprised and greatly interested when informed of the recent thrilling episode in which the little craft is alleged to have taken part while trying to land arms and men on the Cuban coast re- cently. CHARGE OF CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY Fortier's Wholesale Crusade Against the American Tobacco Company in Canaoda. MONTREAL, Queesec, Dec. 29. —The charges of criminal conspiracy to impede trade made by J. M. Fortier against the American Tobacco Company is assuming an aspect far more important than it was at first expected. Warrants Lave been is- sued in Quebec for the arrest of such members of the company as may be in Montreal, and they will have to appear for trial in Quebec on January 7. In tne meantime the profit Fortier would have earned had not the American company, as alleged, impeded the trade, is now being figured upon by his attor- neys, who will at once institute a civil action for damages. The sum will prob- ably total up an average of several hun- dred thousand dollars and the suit for its recovery will be bitterly fonght. Preparations are now being made by which warrants will be issued in nearly every province of Canada, wherever the American company has succeeded in get- ting a dealer to sign an agreement. These warrants will be served on Montreal mem- bers, and they will have to appear for trial in as far distant a province as Prince Edward Island. e TONS OF WATER POURED DOWN. Towns in the Island of St, Michael, in the Azores, Destroyed by a Waterspout. BOSTON, Mass., Dec. 29.—The Portu- guese consulate in . this city has re- ceived a petition from the Island of St. Michael, in the Azores, signed by a rep- resentative of the Portuguese Gov- ernment and nineteen other of the princi- pal citizens, asking aid for the sufferers by the bursting of a giant waterspout on November 2 over ihe city of Povoacao. The petition states that tiere is much suffering for food, clothing and shelter, and gives some particulars of the calamity, than which it states none has been more devastating in the history of the island. Tons of water poured down upon the city, which was of about 25,000 inhabi- tants, mounting above the roofs of the houses, ripping up the streets and carry- ing destruction everywhere in its path. The torrent rushed down the slopes to the sea, tearing a wide channel through nine miles of country and carrying with it the homes of thousands of people. The flood also destroyed the town of Riberia Quente, of 3000 population, and several outlying parishes. All along the coast the fishermen lost their boats, and the shore was littered with: corpses of those who perished 1n the floods. a0 A Death of a French Temor. PARIS, France, Dec. 29.—Joseph Bar- bot, the French tenor, died here yester- day. * He was born in 1824, (2 D giiaTe Joseph Fon Wasielewski Dead, LONDON, Exa., Dec. 29.—Joseph Von ‘Wasielewski, the violinist and. historian, 1s dead. DESCENDING ON KILLARNEY TOWN Danger From the Great Landslide Said to Be Increasing. There Will Probably Be a Larger Loss of Life Than at First Reported. Others Boesides the Donnelly Fami'y Probably Caught in the Moving Mountain. DUBLIN, IreLAND, Dec. 29.—The danger from the 1andslide near Rathmore, County Kerry, is by no means cver, but rather on the increase. That part of the dis- turbed earth comprising the bog is still sliding toward the Lakes of Killarney, its movement being accompanied by a sullen noise that is heard for miies in all directions. Peasants living some distance from the scene sre fleeing from their houses and taking refuge in localities that give prom- ise of safety, leaving all belongings behind them. Debris of houses and trunks of trees destroyed by the avalanches of earth, to- gether with the carcasses of co\rs, sheep, pigs and other animals caught in the landsiide and plunged into the river, are being swept into the lakes. 4 The river Flesk is choked with earth, rocks, trees, etc., and the extra water spread over a largze area, causing a greater loss of life than had been reported yester- day. The Donnelly family of nine per- sons, engulfed in the torrent of earth, was lost. There are fears that other persons have been caught in the tide and have perished. LONDON, Exa., Dec. 29.—A dispatch to the Daily Graphic from Dublin says that the bog slide threatens the town of Killar- ney. Another report says that the slide has ceased. WAS MISS COLLINS MURDERED? Some New and Interesting Revelations Connected With the Death of Herself and Putnam. BOSTON, Mass., Dec. 29.—On the morn- ing of December 12 Miss May L. Collins and Samuel P. Putnam, free-thinkers, ‘were found dead in each other’s arms in a room of the apartment-house at 47 St. Botolph street, at which place the woman had been rooming &bout a week.. Anex. emination of the death-chamber diselosed an open gasburner. Through this. the gas had escaped, and, it is supposed, as- phyxiatea the occupants. On the table was a bottle of whisky and several ounces of benedictine. 1t was said by some that these spirits were pertinent iactors in the tragedy. Despite the verdict of the medical ex- aminer that the victims were killed vy ac- cidental gas-poisoning the police looked upon the case as a double suicide. Itnow appears that two private detectives are in town looking for evidence with which they bope to destroy every theory hereio- fore advanced in connection with this re- markable tragedy. The brother of Miss Collins and ber friende in Midway, Ky., are responsible for the presence of tlese detectives in town. In the first place they hope to prove that Miss Collins did not commit suicide. They expect to show by evidence that she was murdered by the man whom she re- garded as her best friend. Already, they say, they have a mass of circum- stantial and direct evidence which will demonstrate preity clearly that Putnam drugged his partner and then turned on the gas and laid down to die with tne girl he loved but could not marry. The detectives from Lexington will show in good time, they say, that it was a case of deliberate murder and suicide— that Putnam, old man that he was, loved the girl, and, knowing that she could never be his wile, determined that she should accompany Lim to eternity. The medical examiner, despite the sus. picious circumstances about the affair, de- cided not to hold an sautopsy. Had an autopsy been held Miss Collins would not have been proclaimed a suicide, the men from Kentucky aver. The detectives do not place any credence in Mr. Collins’ assertion that his sister was murdered for the diamonds she in- trusted to Putnam just before she left Chicago. Miss Collins was considered ec- centric, and upon free thought she wasa monomaniac. BRADLEYX WILL REBIGN. Political Strife in Kentucky Telling on ‘the Governor. LOUISVILLE, Ky., Dec. 20.—A dis- patch from ¥rankfort to the Courier- Journal says that Governor Bradley in- tends to resign the office of Governor atan early date. He told a friend Monday afternoon he was going to resign, no mat- ter what the ouicome of the potitical issues at stake. He said the place was killing him. The recent exciting axperience that Bradley had in regard to the selection of a United States Senator told on him greatly and he has never been the same man since. He has been a very energetic Republican Governor and the Democratic politicians of the State have made it quite warm for him. 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