The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 9, 1897, Page 1

VOLUME LXXXI NO. PRICE FIVE CEN DETERMINED TO Desperate Condition of Up in the Town NSURGENTS WILL DEFY THE POWERS Cretans to Repel Any At- tempt of the Warships to Interfere. | l ! | TAKE KISSAMO. the Moslems Cooped | of Sitia, Which | Is Being Besieged by the | Christians. ‘ CANEA, Crete, April 8.—The Turkish | garrison at Kissamo is extremely anxious to retiré from that place, believing that in the event of an attack by Christians the vill not be tenable. The insur- als yester- tention to attack tne fort at 1t was understood re-enforce- would be sent to the Turkish troops There seems, however, to have It was stated that, instead of sending further troops to attempt 10 Lold the fort, a war- ship would be dispatehed to Kissamo for the purpose of embarking Moslem troops there, who would evacuate the position as soon as furnished with the means. | d the foreign adm there. been a change in the pl ns. to-day town they are driven back by the besieg- | ing Christians. The warships in the bay | | whenever the Moslems venture out pour a | hot fire into the positions occupied by the insurgents, but they have not succeeded | in preventing them from stcpping the | Moslems. LONDON, Exc., April 8.—The Canea correspondent of the Daily News tele- | graphs that the admirals, having received instructions to persuade the Cretans to | accept the scheme of autonomy prepared | by the powers, this morning beld a con- ference with the Consuls of several na- tions. The matter was considered in | every light, snd the conclusion reached | was that there was no probability of suc- | TRADE WITH TRANS-PACIFIC COUNTRIES. WASHINGTON, D. C., April Great Northern, has written a lette tors t g on the tariff questio possibilities of trade in China and J rates in the Dingle trans-Pacific countries. the greatest importance to this cour of it as are interested in wheat-growing. says, ‘“‘wheat in the 20 cents per bus| The province of Amoy alone, which Palouse Valley 8.—“Jim’’ Hill, president of the t to one of the North Dakota Sena- n and incidentally points out the apan. Hill suggests that the tariff bill be so adjusted as not to cut off trade with In his letter he says that Asiatic trade is of ntry, and particularly such portions | “A year ago last fall,” he , south of Spokane. sold for 18 and | . To-day the same wheat brings 65 and 70 cents. | is near the coast, contains 80,000,- | 000 people, and at twenty pounds of flour per capita yearly would consume 40,000,000 bushels of wheat. The large districts of Tientsin | and Shanghai are both easily accessible from the sea and would con- sume about as much more.”’ Hill suggests that growers could ship wheat from Devils Lake to the Pacific Coast for this trade. The insurgents have notified the ad- mirals that they will forcibly repel any attempt of warships to interfere with the | design to capture Kissamo. It is a: sumed that the insurgents will turn the guns on the warships 1if the latter fire on them. | The condition of the Mussuimans who bave been besieged for a long time at | Sitia, in the eastern part of the island, is | becoming desperate. They are in great went, the scarcity of water ceusing much | ng, particularly among women and | dren. The wellsin the town are ut- incapable of furnishing the supply | necessary, and when the Mussulmans ven- ture the springs outside of the | cess, and tie plan was therefore aban- doaed. Nevertheiess the Russian Consnl will go to Retimo on his own initiative and try to arrange a meeting with the | chiefs of the insurgents, to whom he will explain the benefits of autonomy. ENGLAMD'S FIKM STAND. | Backing the Greeks for the Purpose of | Seizing Suda Bay. 1 NEW YORK, N. Y., April 8.—A dis- patch to tue Herald from St. Petersburg | says: Just at the moment when every | one bad made up his mina that all the | | troubles in Greece and Crete were settled, | way from Uruapam to Apa'zingan. The and after the bourse had opened buoy-‘ antly on the report that Greece haa given way, a very unfortunate counterblast has | | that the pressure of public opinion with Great Britain.” | LARISSA, in Thessaly, Where the Greek Troops Are Massing Preparatory to Crossing the | : Turkish Frontier. MORGAN " CHAMPIONS CUBANS Declares It Is Time to | Accord Belligerent Rights. OUTRAGESTOAMERICANS MUST CEASE. i Contrary to All Treaties, Sus- | pects Are Kept in Loathsome | Dungeons. ' TESTIMONY OF BRUTALITY NOT FIT TO EVEN READ. :‘ Patriots Have Thoroughly Organiz:d a Civil Government and Should | Be Recogniz d. WASHINGTON, D. C., April 8.—The | war in Cuba occupied the attention of the Senate for nearly two hours to-day. It came up in the morning hour in the shape of the joint resolution introduced hy Mor- | gan last Thursday, declaring that a state of war exists and that the United States will accord belligerent rights in its ports come in the postponement of the blockade | and the news of the speech of Balfour, in which he is reported to have taiked of a | [; H A‘l- E ST { France and Russia, This latter point sounds so remarkable and improbab'e that had 1t not com: through the official agency it would seem | incredible. At all events it has produced the strongest impression upon a larce | party here, whose members persistently | insist that England is backing the Greeks | and wishes to seize Suda Bay. To give an £ idea of ti.ese sentiments it has been re- | poried that England is about to force the | S | | | union with America in case of war with | Dardanelles. CANADA'S NEW TARIFF. &t ts Semi-Officially Announced It Wilf Discriminate Agamnst the United States. TORONTO, OsT., April 8.—The Globe, the Dominion Government organ, to-day | made an important announcement on the | oo L P o e brousht down on | FAST TERRITORY UNDER ‘ THE WATERS. “*Although the Government guards the tariff proposals with the utmost watchful- | ness it becomes more and more evideat | ! in favor of a vro-British trade volicy will | But the Worst Is Yet to Come prove irresistible, and t when the} z tariff comes down it will be found to | and Fearful Devastation Is Expected. Alarming Rise of the Rivers. make much greater reductions in the classes of goods muinly imported from | Great Britnin than on those from the | States. A majority of the members favor | omething very near absolute free trade THOU:ANDS BATTLE WITH THE BREAKING LEVEES. g | WOULD-BE ASSASSIN SLAIN, Attemnpted to Take the Life of a Mexican | Gorernor. | MORELIA, Mgxico, April 8.—An un- | known man made a desperate attempt to assassinate Governor Aresteo Mercado of | this State while that official wes on his In the Y zo0 Delta District There Is a Pro poct of the Worst Suffering Ev.r Kn wn There. . bullet went wide of its mark, and one of the Governor's escort promptly shot and | S8T. LOUIS, Mo., April 8.—The con- killed the would-be murierer. | dition of affairs in the flood districts of 2 i | the Mississippi Valley is beyond the power words to describe. Thesituation asout- | lined yesterday in President McKinley message to Congress far surpasses any previous experiences. The flood region is not only more extensive, but from Cairo down the waters have reached a higher stage than ever known before, and the worst is yet to come in many places, es- pecially Louisiana—from the mouth of Red River down—where a desperate fight is now being made to strengthen and hold the levees against the steadily rising waters. This state of affeirs does not come or go in a day, but lasts for weeks or even | months. In the great flood of 1858 the | water at Memphis stood within one foot SanS ST 111 =Sy | ", S 2 ; " i e, AW AL | ot its highest mark for eizhty consecutive | | days, and the flood that overspread the | St..Francis and Yazoo districts took sixty | | days to run off. | | Above Cairo the floods in the main river and its tributaries while very destructive | in certain localities are not so widespread, | besng contined to the narrow bottoms and ! valleys bordering those streams. Below | | | the case is very different. The alluvial region or flood district proper of the Mis- sissippi_begins a sbort distance above Cairo, IlL; at Cape Girardesn, Mo., and | Paducah, Ky., and with & varying breadth of from twenty to eighty miles; extends to the Gulf of Mexico. Through this the river winds its tortuous length of some 1200 miles on the summit of a low ridge which it has built up, sometimes inclining to the biff on the east side and again to those on the west. The land sloping back from its banks to the hich ground bring its surface trom five to thirty feet below the level of the river. 7, 3 .fi'\\ RN B Rl AN i n WS My & S e GtV S e g i 2 v £ Zumamnnims, SOOI gasah N, 0, 7y, > N o of Aiiz,) ."W'/“”(//,,\IIII//,, "y, i, “ i T Ay, A1y, M0, e ,m,,’,\b vy Xy, QUL At three points between Cairo and the s e 1, 1, 0, NN, ""’m 0% mouth of Red River—New Madria, Mo., I \\\m\\ ot \“""'/ »(\:,,‘:”” - Z, | high ground on both sides approaches the o AT Qi S I river, and narrowing the alluvial plain 5 WSt forms three great flood reservoirs, as it SR % i, S5 sttamo i SN Z S &P e ain Kalation were, into which the water backs up from Z 233 &5, 0wy ik QW the main river, or unable 0 pass through | 22 =25 ) I v S PR o KatateoXy the narrow space between the levees at MAP OF SITIA AND VICINITY. This is the scene of the recent massacre and shows where {roops and guns'have been lanaed from a French man-of-war to protect the Mosiems, Who are threatensd by a force of 2000 insur, bay of the same name, some sixty miles east of Canea. gents. Bilia is situated on the northern side of Crete on a these points breaks over and floods the | whole country to & greater o depth. In previous flood years sometimes one and sometimes another of thesa districts have escaped with very little damage. Only on a few previous occasions uave all three been disastrously flooded at the same time. The water now stands, however, in all three to a greater height than ever known before, and each must thus lend its ald as row spaces at the points above mentioned until the tax on the main channel is les- sened. This may be two months hence. From the Cairo, or upper pool, the floodwater can find its way around the New Madrid ridges to the head waters of the St. Francis River, or through Ralfool Lake and River to the next pool below. includes the basin of the St. Francis, some try between it and the big river, except two small pieces of high ground, and all the low grounds along the Abion, Hatcher can hold a vest amount of water and has been known to flood until its waters, rising higher than those in the main river, broke | | Conditions Caused by the|aad other riverson the Tennessee side, It [ [ were washed away or submerged. The lev es on the east side, between Memphis and Helena, are very high and generally suffice to hold the flood in the St. Francis reservoir until the water in the main river goes down. Yet, on this occasion, they have broken both above and below Helena and flooded the Yazoo Deita coun- try, but affording no relief to the flooded district above. From Vicksburg to Baton Rouge, La., the river hugs the bluffs on the east side and the alluvial plain narrows at Natchez 10 some eigiiteen miles, spreading below, over to and up the Red River. W hen this stream 13 low the surpius flood from the Mississippi can go by Atchafalaya Teche and other bayous over a short route to the gulf, relieving the country below from The conditions now prevailing, , are such that thisavails but little and the danger of flood threatens ‘the whole country on both sides down to N-w Orleans aud over to that city itself, which is likely to have an experience worse than when it was inundated some years ago. The Mississippi, with its many bayous and tributaries, is well leveed throughout the alluvial regions. These vary in height and distance from the natural bank of the | stream in the different localities and ac- coiding to the width of the stream. As a rule the section between them is more than double that of the river at the ordi- nary stage of water. The laws of Loui ana, Mississippi and Arkansas provide for constant inspection of these during and after high water, and keeping them some distance—one to three feet—above the height of the highest flood. All ths levees below the mouth of the Arkansas River have been strengthened and raised since the flood of 1893, the highest ever known: but it avails tle against the present flood. The conditions are unprece- dented. The total area of the Mississipp! basin is 1.256,000 square miles, in which 89,400,000, - 000,000 cubic feet of water fall annuail; 25 per cent of this, or 22,500,000,000,000, finds its way to the gulf, at an rate of 675,000 cubic feet per second. Missouri, with a watershed’ of 518,000 square miles, has an annual rainfall o 25,200,000.000,000 cubic feet and discharges with & basin of 169,000 square miles, has a receiving reservoir and hoid the excess | of water unable to pass throuzh the nar- This | 10,500 square miles in extent, all the coun- | over the levees from the west until they | 3,780,000,000.000. The Upper Mississippi, | and territory to forces on both sides. Morgan presented an argument in sup- port of the joint resolution in a dispas- sionate tone and with much less than the usual bitter invective against Spanish rule. He related several of the recent outrages | 13,800,000,000,000 and discharges 3,300,000, - | 000,000. The Ohio basin of 214,000 square miles catches 20,700,000,000,000 cubic feet and delivers 5,000,000,000,000 at Cairo. The | other tributaries raceive 31,000,000,000,000 | / ; - cubic feet rainfall and aeliver a mucy | PerPetrated in Cuba against American 1 . citicens there, and spoke of American larger proportion of it than tue three | il o ; larger streams, the Yazoo, St. Francis and | Citizens in Cuban prisons. He said if Delta sireams making as high as90 per cent | their history there could be 1ead to the rewurn. In 1858 the Ohio first flooded and | Senate it would excite in that body a feel- REAR-ADMIRAL R. H. HARRIS OF BRITISH NAVY. Admiral Harris was shot at by a Moslem irregular while crossing a field near Suda last Wednesday. The bullet plowed the grass at his feet. increased the volume of the main river | ing of the most intense indignation. He at Columbus, Ky., to 1,190,000 cubic feet | asked how the United States could enjoy per second. It had preity well subsided | the respect of its own citizens if it stood when the Upper Mississippi rose and | by and saw even one American suffer at swelled the volume at Columbus to 1,260,- | the bands of the Epanish Government. 000 cubic feet per second. This had prac- | Contrary to treaty, contrary 1o interna- tically subsided when the melting snows | tional law and- contrary to sacred rights = of humanity, Americans, he said, were Continued on Second Page. | kept languishing in loathsome dungeons versity of lllinois are missing. Bank, which closed Monday. not be found. them. UNIVERSITY BONDS ARE MISSING. CHICAGO, ILL., April 8.—Endowment bonds to the value of over $400,000 belonging to the Uni- They were intrusted to C. W. Spalding, president of the Globe Savings Spalding was treasurer of the university, and as such held over $140,000 in cash and between $400,000 and $500,000 in endowment bonds. university was held to-day at the Sherman House to hear the report of a sub-committee appointed to com- municate with Spalding and secure information as to the funds. hours later, the faces of the members bore unmistakable signs of great agitation. Although no member of the board would commit himself, it is learned that the situation is most seri- ous so far as the university is concerned. A secret session of the trustees of the When the session ended, almost three Spalding has been much in demand by the trustees, but could It was claimed by them before the meeting opened this morning that a messenger had been dispatched to ascertain the exact whereabouts of the banker and also to obtain a statement from him. President McKay of the Board of Trustees admitted that the board is absolutely in the dark so far as the $400,000 endowment bonds are concerned. Of this amount $200,000 worth of bonds are said to be nego- tiable, while the remainder are stamped in such a manner as to make it next to impossible to hypothecate The only informatien that could be gleaned from the trustees after the meeting to-day was the assurance that not all of the $140,000 cash funds were in the hands of Spalding when the Globe Savings Bank failed. Spalding was appointed treasurer of the board at the solicitation of ex-Governor Altgeld.