The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 8, 1897, Page 1

{ i FIVE PRICE CENTS. VITALIA ADER THE SECT Self-Immolation Taught by a Strange Woman in Russia. WONDERFUL POWER OF THE PRIESTESS, Induced Kovaloff to Wall Up His Own Wife and Children. MAGISTRATES MAY SEND HIM TO A MONASTERY. Pecullar Doings of Fanatics Known as Rasko/niki in Which the Czar Is Greatly Interested. LONDON, Exc., e 7.—The corre- epondent of the Daily News, who went to | Lirespol, Russia, to inquire into the case | of self-immol tion of a number of persons g to a religious sect, known iki, says he learns that Feodore on whose premises the bodies of fifteen victims were found, inciuding those of Ko off’s wife and two children, be confined in a monaster. ate: examining into the mat- ed that Kovaloff was abso- ely unconscious of having committed a crime in having buried six persons alive and walling up nine others in his cellar. One of the chief personalities of the | a enacted at Ternofka, near Tirespol, | = a woman called Vitalia, who was the prophecess, priestess and preacher. She was the daughter of respectable parents. She entered an orthodox convent in her b, but later joined the Raskolniki. ne time ago she suddenly vanished and was not heard of until her corpse was ex- t Ter bad great influ- 4 the r members of the ect, and persuaued alt her fol- when sent to prison to starve to They refused to eat food offered, would have perished had not the d governor of the prison released obab e mag are conv ofka. otk ranee wers Another instance of the influence of was the walling up of Kavoloff's During the taking of Kovaloff arrived home one xd found his young wife y depressed. Inquiries as to what s troubling her elicited theinformation his wife was afraid that the enumera- tors would enter the names of their two upon the accursed record, with the result that ultimately they would be forced to join an orthodox church and thereby be irrevocably doomed to eternal erdition. She declared that she had therefore resolved to sacrifice the children with herself. Kovaloff, who had hitherio been the least fanatical, began to be horri- fied. Failing to dissuade her he went to seek counsel and enlist the helpof Vitalia. The prophetess hastened to the mother and instead of trying to prevent her soli- sacrifice commended her for her boly and Jaudable resolve. Finally she convinced K loff tbat by self-martyrdom he and his fam chi Iy could alone hope for salvation. It was in obedience to her behests that Kovaloff performed the dreadful tragedy himse!f, meanwhile grieving continuously that he was not allowed to die with his wife and children. The Czar is profoundly impressed by the story, and is receiving minute reports of the progress of the i GHOULS LOOT A CEMETERY. An Indiana Buryng - Ground Aimost Emptied of Bodies by Most Daring Thicves. INDIANAPOLIS, Ixp, June 7.—The discovery was maue a farmer to-day that Lick Creek Cemetery, five miles southeast of here, has been almost emp- tied recently of buried bodies. At least fifty bodies were stolen by ghouls in par- | ticular. The farmer saw lying near a ne grave the shroud in which the body hud | been buried. They examined other graves and found they had also been robbed. To-day a number of graves were cpened and in eight out of ten the bodies been stolen, and in three the coffin, clothing and ali were missing. Every one who has a friend buried is preparing to the grave. There is great excite- ad open meat. NON-PARTISAN TICKET WINMS, Littze Intevest Taken in the Election of Judges at Chicago. AGO, Irv., June 7.—The Non- Partisan Judges’ ticket was victorious in to-d: y's election by 10,000 majority. Ten ‘e newly elected Judges are Repubii cans and six Demccrats. Little intere: was manifested and only half of the regis- tered vote polied. The Siiver ticket cut a CHIC. very small figure. This is due to some extent to factional quarreis, A s i Mrikeys Brourning to Work. PITTSBURG, Pa., 7. June 7.—The strike at Jones & Laughlin's American Iron Works is broken and resumption is ex- pected in a few days. When the gates were opened this morning the machinists, chain-makers, bolt-makers an ! foundry- men returned to work. Over 700 men are now working, and the impression is gen- eral that all the old men will go back be- “fore the end of the week. The Fireboats Governor Markham and Go / ik 7 177 vernor Irwin Fighting the Flames From Channel Street. i [ \\ 5 MANAGER HASLETT and His Broken Leg Look On. IT'S A DISGRACE 10 CVILIZATION Calhoun Speaks of the Condition of Affairs in Cuba. Trickery and Deceit Favorite Methods Employed by the Spaniards. Nothing Was Gained by the Inves- tigation Into the Murder of Dr. Ru z. NEW YORY, N. Y., June 7.—William J. Calhoun, special counsel to Lee in the Ruiz case, arrived here from Havana this | morning and spoke freely of his impres- sion of the state of affairs in Cuba. He said be believed the war would only be ended by the death of the last Cuban, or the final desparation and disgust of Spain | | know the truth as we were. Honestly, I think he was as anxious to He helped us | 1n every possible way. Witnesses did not | the after weary years of guerrilla warfare. He | intimated that the evidence Consul-Gen- erai Lec has been able to gath'r in the Ruiz case is absoiutely without value, and | manifested resentment for e lack of | courtesy shown him by Weyler and Fons- | deviela, who was supposed to be an im- portant witness in the case. He said: “Tne whole state of the island is pitiable and adisgrace tocivilization. There is no war as we speak of war. | with heavy loss and had to { dead on the field. There is a com- | pact organized body of Spanish soldiers | and other thousands of individualsdivided loosely in guerrilla baunds, ten, thirty or | fifty in a party, ravaging the country and running away. The Cubaus are not look- ing for battle—they wonld be fools if they did. The situation may best be described as comparing the Spanish toa clumsy animal that is attacked by swarms of in- sects. Thney buzz around him, sting him, torture into paroxysms of rage, and he can do nothing but switch at them or trample a few into the mud 1n an aimless way. The fight will never end until the last gnat is dead, or until the animal has been driven out of its senses, so that it rushes to self- destruction. “It is generally supposed that I was sent o investigate the Cuban question. The supposition is wrong. Of course I had eyes in my head and could see things. If the President asks me what I saw I will tell him. I went out for the Ruiz case and nothing else.” “Did the Spanish co-operate with you in the Ruiz investigation ?"” was asked. “Dr. Congosta, who with Mr. Lee made up the commission, was mo:t courtesus. ran aiter us begging for permission to tes- tify. We examined six or seven. Ruiz received a hurt resulting in concussion of the brain. He was taken out of his cell and died. If he was murdered the only persons who know it are his jailers, and were the witnesses. You may make your own inferences about the value of such testimony. Fonsdeyiela did not tes- y, but I assure you I would very muci like to know where he was.”’ It has been said that Calhoun took an affront at Weyler’s absence from the city during his three weeks’ stay there. Wey: ler kept out of Havana all the time Cal- houn was there, returning only after he leit. verything in Havana is done under. grouna, in the dark, in whispers,” said Calhoun. *““When you mean one thing you must say just the opposite. They are not acquainted with truth down there, Neither side is. I doubt if there is such a word in the language.” HAVANA, Cusa, Jane 7.—The insur- | gents are now very active in Pinar del | Rio province. They received :everal small expeditions from the United States and Mexico and ammunition enough to keep their army constantly fighting. Each Cuban soldier in Pinar del Rio has proba- bly at present 100 cartridges. | The Spanish battalion at L.a Reina was severely defeated at Lacuna Coloraaa by the Cubans under Ducasse. The Span- iards intended to tzke by a bayonet charge four intrenchments behind which Ducasse had fortited his men. I'he Span- isn soldiers fought like demons, attack- ing the position three times, and in their last charge approaching within ten feet of the intrenchments. They were repulsed leave their Spaniards were carried away by the col- umn. At Alonzo Rojas, Pinar del Rio prov- vince, a large Cuban hospital was attack- ed by the Spaniards and the sick and wounded slain. The nurses fell al<o into the hands jof the Spaniards, snd neither woman nor children were spared. Filty persons of both sexes were victims. Wey- ler has issued orders forbidding the coun- try townspeople to buy meat of any one | not having aspecial liconse from him. The meat sellers are in connivance with the Spanish officials, and the meat they sell is from cattle stolen from farms by | the Spanish troops. The general distress is so great that the famine is spreading in the suburbs of the capital. AT LR GENEEKAL LER'S REPORT. It Condemns the Violation of Ty Lights in the Case of Luiz, NEW YORK, N. Y., June 7.—The Jour- nal prints the full text or Lee’s report on tie Ruiz case. Itdetails the caseat fength, giving facts already known, and sums up in conclusion as follows: First—Ruiz was arrested on a false charge. Secona—He wes placed under improper More than 150 wounded | jurisdiction and ai tribunal considered h him no opoortunity to prove his Third—That he was kept “incomunieado” in asolitary cell for 315 hours in violation - of treaty rights which limit such confinement to seventy-iwo hours Fourth—He died from congestion of the | brain produced by s blow on the top of the | head. | F.fth—There are two theories | with the woundon the head { excitemen the by giving connected One is that in he ran scros & state of ment | the cell, as dese butted his head on the door in a frantic effort 1o get out. Auother, that he was struck on | the head with one of the clubs carried by the | jailers—his immediate watchman—who had protably ordered him to ¢ doing so struck him with more intended; or 1t is possi i livered to make him co s or give evideuce against the others. Possibly he went mad na many causcs combined to produce su result. His knowledge of hisown innos his confivement in a gloomy cell, wi he was noi allowed to communicate with his family or friends, or to send and write. All alone the thought doubtless impressed itself upon his mind that he was liable in the relgn of terror then existing in and around Guanabacos to be summarily exe- cuted at any moment. He loved his wife and children, and in the darkness of his cell was eonstantly ersing out for them. The thought that they were but a few rods away and yet he might never see them again or hear the sound of their voices or feel the touch of their lips nd hands maddened him aud proved too much for the mind of the distracted and un- force than he o the blow was de- long hours passed by it may have given way and left him a maaman, erby hat was all baitered up and his clothes greatly torn when returned to her. But whether when bereft of reason he inflicted the plows which produced the brain conges- tion, or whether he died at the hanuds of oth- ers, the truth will probablv only be known | when the hearts of ali are revealed. The fact re- | mains that his unjust confinement kiiled him, and had he been reieased from incomunicado by the hand of man at the end of seventy-two | hours the hand of death might no: have re- leasad him at the end of 315 hours, and to-day the widow would have bad the support of her husband and the moans of his fatherless chil- dren would never bave been heard in the | iand. I therefore conclude by saying s I | bave doue in all previous reports about this | case, that whether Dr. Ruiz killed himsalf or | was illed by some one else will, under the existing conditions, always remain unknown. | - Lee comments bitterly on the faiture of | witnesses to appear. The whole report is | stronely condemnatory of Weyler's con- dnet in the case. The report is dated in Hauans, May 21, and made to Secretary Sherman, Iujured by @ Falling Elevator. CHICAGO, fuL, June 7.—An elevator in the building at 95 Dearborn street fell from the second flocr to the basement wilth three passenygers and the elevator man to-day, injuring all of them. They are: F. Deen, Albert Dougherty, — Mc- Gee and A. E. Van Puraish, the elevator man. The fall was attended by no seri- ous consequences, but the iron weights which balance the car were released from their place and crashed down upon the roof of the elevator, crushing it in and in- juring the occupants. prover | bed by one of the jailers, and | se his cries for | relief and for nis children, and upon his not | happy man, and it is not improbable as tne | His wife says bis | LAWYER BARBER'S HOPELESS LOVE |It Causes Him to Hound | a Typewriter and At~ | tempt to Kill Her. After Twice Firing at the Girlf | He Sends a Bullet Through | His Own Brain. | ‘\ For Years the Fellow Had Followed | and Persecuted the Victim of His Admiration. WASHINGTON, D. C., June 7.—Charles E. Barber, a patent attorney, made an at- tempt this morning on the life of Miss Dorothy Squires, a typewriter, 22 years | old, with whom he was in love, and aiter shooting her twice, placed the pistol | against his temple and shot himself dead Miss Squires will live unless blood- | poisoning sets in. The shooting occurred | at9 o’clock on Four and One-half street, | above Pennsyivania avenue. Miss Squires | was going to her office when accosted by | | Barber, who bad bcen concealed in an | area way. He addressed her, but Miss | | Squires hurried on. Barber followed, | | talking to his intended victim. She had | | gone a few rods when Burber drew a re- | volver and fired point blank at the girl. The bullet struck the back of her head, but the force was somewhat broken by a celluloid comb. Pieces of the comb were driven into Miss Squires' skull. Miss | Squires dropped to her knees when the builet struck her, and while in that posi- tion Barber fired again, wounding her in | the hand. Then he killed himself. | The girl's brother, George Squires, said that Barber had been persecuting his sis- ter for several years. He telezraphed, sent notes by messengers, ceme to the house in person, waited for her on street corners and tried in every way to be in her company, but was repulsed each time. Oaly a short while ago the brother was walking down the street with his sis- ter when the fellow spoke, and he whacked him on the jaw. Barber was from St. Lawrence County, and was a protege of Secretary Folger's. He went into the patent-law business and secured a good practice, Barber also came into a little prominence some weeks ago by presenting President McKinley with a Newfoundiand dog. The President accepted the animal, and it is boused in a blg kennel in the rear of the execative mansion CUT OFF HER CHILD'S HEAD. Insani’y Causes the Young Wite of a Farmer to Make a Most Start- ling Sacr.fice. INDIANAPOLIS, I~p, June 7.—M Jerry Holcomb, the young wife of a West Franklin, Posev County, farmer, sacri- ficed her four-year-old daughter yesterday while laboring under the hallucination that the Lord commanded her to do so. She has been regarded as partly insane for a year, but was never regarded as dan- gerous. Yesterday while the husband was absent she 100k her daughter into the bedzoom, and after a few moments walked into the kitchen with the child’s head in her hands and exhibited it to the cook. The latter fled in terror. When Holcomb arrived his wife was bound with cords. A butcher knife was found concealed in her dress. She was calm as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened. When questioned she said the Lord appeared in adream and commanded her to make a sacrifice of the child, and she had done so and:didn’t regret it.J The khife was as sharp as a razor. The child’s hrad was severed from the body just above the shoulders. e IDA DENT WRIGHT WEDS. The Well-Known Young Weman Becom:s the Bride of Dr. Walter Seymour of Bcston. NEW YORK, N. Y., June 7.—Ida Dent Wright, danghter of Mrs. Marie Robinson ‘Wrignt, was married to-day to Walter Seymour of Boston. The bride is a native of Atlanta und at one time was engaged to General Antonio Ezeta. Vice-President of Salvador. The revoiution in Salvador caused a postponement. Ezeta escaped San Francisco on a United States war- ship. Salvador weredismissed by Judge Morrow. Miss Wright worked hard in the interest of her fiance. A few months later the en- gagement was broken off by mutual con- sent, but the two are still firm friends. The wedding to-day was private, only a few intimate triends being present. The bride wore a gown of blue sik muslin over blue changeable taffeta silk figured with terra-cotta flowers and trimmed with terra-cotta ribbons. She also wore a large leghorn hat. The couple will reside in Boston. B o Fortune for Poor Heirs. NEW HAVEN, Cos~., June 7.—J. D. Boyer, an attorney of San Francisco, came to New Haven to-day to apprise Mrs. William F. Williams of this city that she and her children were heirs to an estate worth $42,C00 in Nevada and Cali- fornia, left by Dr. James Williams of Nevada, brother of Mrs, Williams’ hus- band. Dr. Williams died intestate. He ieit deposits in California banks of $32.000 and GV'IY;"’ in Nevada worth $10,000. i Mrs. ams is poor. Extradition proceedings by San | RE RUNS AMUCK [N DRY TINDER Truckee Box Company’s Plant Licked Up by Flames. BIG LUMBER-YARDS IN DANGER. [Il-Tempered and Fitful Winds Threaten a Big Con- flagration. THOUSANDS OF FRUIT-BOXES DESTROYED. A Loss of $30,000 Is Amply Covered by Insurance in Many Ccmpanies. A stubborn fire, fanned by an ille tempered and shifty wind, made an ash- heap of the greater portion of the plant of the Truckee Lumber and Box Company and threatened the destruction of half a mile of lumber-mills and plants along Channel street yesterday afternoon. Three hours of hard work by the Fire De« partment could not prevent a loss aggre- gzating $30,000. o offset this there is an insurance of $26,500. The beginning was simvle enough. It was in the fuel-room, among the shavings and sawdust in the rear of the estabiish- ment, that the flames got a start. The plant and yards of the company occupy the western portion of the block bounded by Fifth, Berry and Fourth streets, with the waterways of Channel streetasasouth- ern boundary. It was to this waterway that the fire first began to rush. An eady- ing, zusty breeze from the bay turnea its flare westward and north, to find ready tuel in the planing-mill and box factory, which had frontage on Berry and Fifth streets, These structures were filled with dry lumber in all stages of manufacture, and six minutes afier the firs t alarm there was half a block of flames to provide work for the Fire Departmen Ten engines and the two fireboats, Gov- ernor Markham and Govern or Irwin, bore the brunt of a three hours’ struggle. The flames were confined to the establ is hment in which they began. The big plants of C. M. Depew and McFarland Brothers, immediately to the east, escaped with a slight scorching. They afforded exce!lent material for a bi conflagration that would undoubtealy have licked up the Southern Pacific freightsheds. The flames showed a decided itching to bring about this very affair, and it took a score of big streams of water to prevent their running eastward along Channel street. The result of the fire will be to throw over fifty people out of employment, as well as seriously incommoding many fruit-shippers, whose boxes went up in the general desiruction, Coming so close after Sunday’s holocaust, a great crowd was attracted to the spot. Channel street was lined on its south side by thousands of people, while almost balf a hundred police were required to keep the throngs in order about the GSouthern Pacific freightyards. The State fire tugs Governor Irwin and Governor Markham did excellent service during the fire. As soon as the third alarm was turned in Chief Wharfinger Root and Assistant Chief Wharfinger Scott boarded the Irwin and hastened to the scene. A stream of water was soon playing on the factory, but when an order for more pressure came the tug was in trouble. The engines were equal to any and every demand made upon them, but the hose was not. ion after section burst under the stream, and soon the big tug was use- less as far as putting out a fire was cone cerned. | A new supply of hose was obtained from | the Fire Department and soon the fireboat | was in ful! operation again. On the Governor Markham one man nearly lost his life. When the call for more pressure came it was put on in a hurry, and the hose knocked three men off their feet, and a fourth, Hans Jensen, overboard. The latier was fished outina few minutes, but they had to turn the hose on him in order to clean the mud and filth of Channel street off his person. Some of the hose on the Markham barst, vut the damage was soon repaired from the vessel’s am ple sunply. Willie Smith, who worked on one of the machines in the mill, discovered the fire in theshavings-room a few minutes after 1. The shavings-room adjoins the engine= room, which is a brick structure, roofed with corrugated iron. ‘While itisnot known how the firein the shavings-room started it is thought that it may have been caused by men smoking on the wharf upon which the i shavings-room is situated, Several men about th* Channel-street wharves, and those fi;emen and sailors who arrived first aboard the tug Governor Irwin, were in time to obseive the still burning pile of shavings dumped against the rear wall of the sheds next to the en- gine-room. They believe that sparks from the three furnaces as the fires were being started up again after lunch time ignited these shavings and originated the fire, Had the westerly wind which was blowing at the time not suddenly shifred 10 the opposite quarter and curried the fire through the wuilding the fire might have been little more than an insignifie cant blaze. Smith hurriedly notified Engineer Murray of the fire and an alarm was turned in from the auxiliary box 1n the mill by Fireman Lametti. Almost at the same time James Cademartori, whois em- ployed on one of the machines in the mill, ran to Fourth and Berrv streets, where box 136 is situated, but by this time the fire-whistles were blowing and Cade- marlori waited for thie engines to arrive. Meanwhile Kngineer Murray and the employes of the mill were fighting the fire as best they could. The mill is one of the best equiped establisuments 1n the City for exunguishing a blaze. Hydrants and | hoselines are placed all tarough the builds