The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 30, 1897, Page 1

i VOLUM SAN FRANCISCO, WEDNESDAY M R 1 - FT—= * | _.PRICE-FIVE CENTS. LGS BATTLES T0 UGHT Crisis in the Cuban War Is Now Approach- ing Fast. BOTH SIDES PREPARING FOR THE FRAY. Weyler Resolved to Utterly Destroy Santiago de Cuba Province. INSURGENT LEADY¥RS COMPLETE PLANS FOR DEFENSE. Garcla Determined to Infiict Blows Upon the Hordes of Span- ish Soldlers. HAVANA, Cusa, June 20.—The most interesiing and decisive period in the Cuban wa now rapidly approaching. Shounld Weyler succeed in his formidable effort azainst the province of Santiago de Cuba the revolution will be crushed and peace est nopes it blished, as the captain-general Il be, by the dreadful work of fire and swor pected is now at hana. Weyler is resolved to utterly destroy the province of Santiago de Cuba if neces- sary for his purpose, and as he openly de- clared in the palace before leaving Ha- vana, he will carry to the extreme his war of extermination ‘‘against all who help e enemies of Spai The praparations made by the Cubans to' withstand Weyler's forty batfalions and more numerous irregular forces of are remarkable. General s defeat st Bueycito and the dis- persion of his column of 6000 men is the first news o be received by Weyler in Bantiago de Cuba. cavalry is formidable throughont the dis ¢t of Maneanil trals. o, which this leaderwon At the same time all the roads to the mountains of Baracoa and Maestta, which are Cuba’s strongholds, bave been planted with dynamite order of Garcia. by All the reserve forces stationed in the different Cuban prefec- | res' have been called into action and rmed. ~Garcia himaelf will probably soor return to Santiago de Cuba with 5000 men to aid General Rabi. According to Gomez's instructions, issued a month ago, when Weyler began to prepare the movement against the east, the Cubans are not expected to en- | gage in oven battles, but to tire out the Spanish colum had done Banta Clara province with constant gu rilla fighting. 820 de Cuba azree that General Garcia is willing to face Weyler in two or three as they in pitched battles, inferiority of his troops. in spite of t wrote recen to a friend the city of Santiago de Cuba: do not believe Weyler will commit the folly of starting a campaizn agai Santiago de Cuba at this time of the when yellow fever will extermina troops. But if he does I should like to give him two or three biows, were it only 10 prove to the United States our right to be considered belligerents.” At Ranchueio thirty ast from to forty pacificos are dying every day from starva- | tion. Every man who dies is reported as an (nsurgent killed in the field. The revolution bas gained considerable strength in the west since Weyler’s with- drawal of many battalions from Matanzas, Havana and Pinar del Rio for his eastern campaign. It is impossible any longer for Weyler’s agents to keep up the lie of pacification in the west. but they say now that after the triumph which they expect in Eastern Cuba it will be easy to exter- minate the Cuban bands that around Havan swarm TEN YEARS' PENAL SERVITUDE. Sen'ence of Charles Bertrand, the Swin- dler Who Fosed as a Er.ther or Embas-ador Hiv. LONDON, ExG., June 29.—Charles Ber- trand, known uader the alinses of Jolo- nel Hay,” alleged brother of the United States Embascador, “Colonel Travers,” “R. 8, Marshal” of Chicago,” and numer- ous other names, who was committed to trial on June 19 chargad with fraud m gaining the acquaintance of women and ordering jewelry, dresses, hats, etc., for them and baving the goods sent to hotels and then borr »wing small sums from the victims, wus sentenced to-day to ten years’ penal servitude. Bertrand Dpreviously served three years' penal servitude here under the aliases of *St Elmas” and “Donaldson The authorities proved that he had served a term of eight years’ imprisonment in California. —_— LENTERTAI-ED BY HANOTAUX. Ihe Fremeh Premicr Promises ihe Mo rtary Detegates. PARIS, Fra June 29.—Hanotaux gave a luncheon to-day to General Horace Porter and the American monetary dele- gates—Stevenson, Paine and Wolcott—at which all of the prominent supporters of bimetallism were present. The adhesion of France 1o the objects of the delezates was promised, provided that the Berlin and to dia The crisis so long ex- | General Rabi’s Cuban | to Sierra | But ail advices from Santi- | merical | neral Garcia | his | | London Governments also accept the pro- | posal for an international conference. i st adin | HEBREWS ARE IN DANGER. Obnoxious R -strict ons Formulated in | Persia P eparctory 1o Carrying Out | a /lan of Extermination. NEW YORK, N. Y., World's London special rospondent at Teheran, Persia, who is in | an official position, say s *'S8dy1d Ravhan Ailah has planned the | extermination of all the Hebrews in Per- sia. He has summoned the chief rabbi and informad him tha t the Hebrews, must accept the Mohammedan faith or he will do all that he can to exterminate them. “Sayid Rayhan has tormulated the fol- lowing restrictions: Every Hebrew must | bave all of his bair cut off, must never | ride an animal throughout the city, must wear European dress and must wear a mark to distincuish him from tne Mo- hammedan. Hebrew women must veil. They must not wear the chador or ch. choor outdoor dress which Persian eti- querte expects of every woman. The He- urew must not build his house higber than that of his Mohammeiun neighbor. The entrance must bedistingui-h-d from Mos- lems. He is not to come out of his house on rainy davs. When a Hebrew dies any relative who 's a convert to Mohammed- | enism may pescess all his property. A | Hebrew who having once accepted Islam renounces it will be put to death. ““Fanatical Moslems attacked the He- brew quarter on May 9 ana pillaged houses and dragged every lebrew inmate ont and brutally beat him and cut off his hair ind put a red patch on his clothes. Many Hebrews accepted Islam to save their lives. A final attack for the extermination of all Hebrews is feared. The lems en- deavored several times to obrain the sanc- tion of Chi-f Moshtahd, Pope of the Mohammedan church, for slaughterin= alt Hebrews on one day, falsely accusing them of crimes. Thev will try to bring in at night a dead body into the Hebrew quarter so that they may accuse the He- brews of murder. The Hebrew quarter is LOSS OF THE PACIFIC LINER AD No Longer Any Doubt as to the Fate of the Big Steamship. WRECKED ON A REEF IN THE INDIAN OCEAN. | Some of the Survivors Saved by the Mayo as the Ve sel Was Breaking Up. BUT MANY WERE SWEPT AWAY AND DROWNED. In All the Missing Include Twenty- Flve Passengers and Fifty-Three Members of the Crew. LONDON, ENG., June 2 cording to advices received here this morning there is no longer any doubt as to the fate of the missing Pacific line steamship Aden, which | The Fire on the Corner of Loss to | i ‘ | After the American Ship Commodore Had Been Skillfully Towed Away From the Burning Wharf by the Tug Vigilant, Her Anchor Was Dropped Owing to a Misapprehension, and Two Tugs Had to Keep Constantly Pumping Water on Her Deck to Keep Her From | Catching Fire. An Entire New Suit of Sails Had to Be Cut Away to Save the Masts, East and Fo'som Streets Yesterday Completely Destroyed the New Wharf Just Completed for the Oceanic Steamship Company. the State Is Estimated at Over $30,000, and the Damage to Private Property Will Probably Exceed $20,000 More. The guarded by soldiers. We are left at the | mercy of these fanatics.” | — | MAY ALL VISIT VICTORIA. | The Queen Invites Members of the House | of Commons and Their W ves to Call | LONDON, E June 29 —There has b much grumbling in the lobbies of | |{ the Common« becan: majority of the | members who went to Buckincham | Palace Wednesday last on the occasion of | | the presentation of the Commons address | to the Queen were unabe to enter the throneroom and did not see her Majesty owing to the bungling or indifference of the palace officials. | In the Commons to-night Baliour an- nounced that Le had received a message | from the Queen, who had only learnea | through the newspapers of the contre- | tomps which hnd prevented the members | from entering her presence on ihe occa- | sion referred to. In the message the | Queen d all the members of the | House, together with their wives, to visit | her at Windsor ou July 3. The announce- ment caused cheers by Liberals and Con- | servatives. The Irish members received | it with laughter. CHILD 1.8 &N K LLED, Little Ones Crushed by the Fall of a Chureis Wall at Solana. MADRID, Spaix, June 29 —A church wall =1l at Bolana this morning, killing nine children. The parents and relatives of the children are wila with grief. They demand that the authorities make an in- vestigation of the disaster and punish those who are responsible ior it. They say that the church wall had been in a dangerous state for some time past, and | they assert that it ougnt to have been jomebody’s business to strengthen it ! left Yokohama June 1 for London with a number of passengers and a valuable cargo. It is now known that the Aden was wrecked June 9 on a reef near the island of Socotra, in the Indian Ocean, off the eastern extremity of Africa. A her officers and crew and eight passengers were swept overboard and drowned. A number of boat loaded with passengers and | sailors left the ship on June 10. The weather was very heavy and it is feared the boat was lost. Other accounts say nine passen- s, three European and thirty five native members of the crew were saved, and twenty-five pas- sengers and twenty European and thirty-three native members of the crew, together with all the officers, are missing. A later dispatch says the Indian Government steamer Mayo res- cued the survivors of the Aden at 7 o’clock on Saturday, just as the wreck of the Pacific liner was breaking up. aken to Aden. in all the drowned and missing include twenty-five passengers, ge They have been | twenty European officers and sailors and thirty-three natives of | the Aden’s crew. _—— HORRORS ON THE REEF. Fearful Suffering of Those Who Ramalined Aboard the Aden Untll Rescued. LONDON, Exe., June —The Daily Mail’s correspondent at Aden interviewed | the survivors of the disaster and sends a | vivid description of the loss of the steamer. He says that the Aaen left Co- | lombo June 1. Two days later she was struck by a severe monsoon. For six | davs terrific gales and heavy seas were met with and the weather was yery thick. At 3 o’clock on the morning oi June 9 the Aden struck on Ras Radressa reef, east- ward of Socotra. Animmense hole was | torn in the hull, through which the water poured in torrents. The engine-room w | almost instantly flooded and the fires quenched. When the fires went out the electric-lights were extinguished and the ship was in utter darkness. Then ensued a scene of wild confusion. Passengers rusbed from their cabins in their night- clotuing, the women and children scream- ing in terror. Tiie majority of the men | passengers were filled with horror and were heipless. The officers and crew dia their utmost tor the safety of the vessel and tried to caim the passengers, It speedily becaume apparent that the only | hope was in the small boats. Life belts | were promptiy served out to the passen- | gers and siznals of distress fired. | The boats on the weather side were | washed away by the seas, but those on tlie les side were prepared for launching. In the meantime some of the crew were detailed to help the terrified passengers secure clothing from their cabins, as it | | 1 was obvious that hours must pass before it would be possibie to launch boats, ow- ing to the fury of the sea. The hope that the storm would abate was not fulfilled On the contrary the haze increased and the seas dnshed over the steamer threat- ening to destroy ber. Dayiight brought no relief. Itratber added to the horror in revealing to those on board the awful- ness of their position. A lifeboat was lowered, but it was im- | mediately swept away with First Officer Carden and three Lascars. Second Officer Miller with others of the crew embarked in a gig to rescue their shipmates, but to the utter despair of those on boarl, both | boats were hurled away on seas. Only one boat remained. 1Its lower- ing was watched with intense emotion. Cries of anguish burst from the watchers when this, too, immediately it was low- ered, half capsized, casting the sailors and | stores into the sea. After great efforts the boat was tinally righted and the worwen and children loweced into it, with the exception of Mesdames Gillott. Pearce and Strain, who decided to remain on the wreck with their husbands. - Miss Lioyd and Miss Weller, who are missionaries at Foo Chow, also determined to remain. As mornin: advanced the waves con- tinued to sweep over the steamer, dashing many of those on board against the bul- warks or deck structures, and leaving them prostrate. One by one the women and children remaining, too weak to with- stand further buffetings, were washed overboard, the survivors b2ing helpless to prevent their fate. Mr. Strain of Tientsin, bis wife and two children, Misses Lloyd | ana Weller, Mr. and Mre. Pearce, their | baby and it« Chinese nurse, were among | the 6 who were thusengulied. Next to «o was Captain Hill, master of the steamer. His leg had been broken, but notwith- standing this, he continued calmly and | bravely to give orders until the waves tremendous | claimed him. Then several Lascars of the crew were ‘washed overboard. Throughout the long day the sea raged, seizing. victim after victim. At about 5 o’clock in the evening the survivors, many of whom were badly hurt, retreated below. Thus in bodily pain and intense mental suspense they passed the night, huddied in the small cabin, which threatened to be their tomb. It was a night which none of the survivors care to recall in their thoughts, far less in their speech. The storm slightly abated on the 10th. Those who were least exhausted began to search for food, but at the cost of pain to their bruised and miffened limbs and also at the imminent risk of being swept ove: board by the bigx seas that were still reaching over the wreck. The fourth en gineer, while getting water, was knocked sensele:s by a heavy sea. Mr. Pearce also came near being carried overboard, but his wiie’s neroism saved him. The search for food was not very successtul, tuere being little that could be found. Three terrible days thus passed before a vessel was sighted on the 13th. This ves- sel did not, however, ses the signals of the shipwrecked people. Another vessel was sighted on the 17th ‘and another on the 20th, but neither appeared to see the signals, although the castaways cannot imagine how they escaped notice. These unhappy episodes broke down many who had hitherto kept command of them- selves, and the scenes of hali-maddened rage were painful to witnes: Tpre were two heroines in this awful time—Mes- dames Gillott and Pearce. They kept up their spirits and under- took the catering, though the provisions were lessening daily. They also cheer-a their companions in misery. The weather moderated gradually in the morning, but always became more violent in the after- Continued on Second Page. BURNED LIKE A T0RCH Destruction of the New Folsom-Street Pier hy Fierce Flames, THE SHIP COMMODORE IN A BLAZE. Overboard Jumped the Wife of the Captain, but She Was Rescued. HEROIC ACT OF JAPANESE SAILORS. Asiatic Man-of-Warsmen Fought the Flames and Were Oheered by Americans. | Folsom-street pier, the pride of the Harbor Commissioners, is a ruin. Ten minutes aiter the cry of fire was raised the entire superstructure was a mass of flames, and an hour later the loss was al- most comvlete. The shed was gone, the ship Commodore was slmost gutted by the flames and the scow schooner Katie Me was burned to the water’s edge. The wife of Captain Daviason of the Commodore jumped overboard when the | lames envelopad the ship and was savea only with difficulty. The three men on the Katie Mc were only saved by the cour- age and darine of Jack Healy, Henry Peterson and others. In spite of the tierce flames they backed their boats up to the burning schooner and took the men off. They yeiled again and azain to them to jump, but the sailors were paralyzed with fear and did not move. Each hoat- man threw a bucket of water over himsef ana backing alongside the burning schooner took the men aboard. It was a narrow escape. The steamer Homer was lying ahead of the ship Commodore discharging a cargo of lumber and it was lucky for her that steam was in the boiler. The sudden out- burst of the flames nearly caused the crew to desert, but the captain and officers brought the men to a sense of their duty, and when the heat became too intense the lines were cast off and the steamer backed into the stream. The loss will be over $50,000, and of that sum the State loses at least $30,000. The Commodore had been recoppered #nd re- fitted throughout, her new sails had been vent and she was ready to sail to-day for Honolulu to load sugar for New York when the fire came, and now the charterers will have to secure another vessel to take her place. | The Katie Mc was formerly owned by | Uncle Sam and carried sand to the various military posts in the bay. M. Peterson bought her and ever since she has been a regular trader on the bay. The origin of the fire seems to be in | doubt. Some say it started in the o1l and paint shop, others that it broke out under the wharf from spontancous com bustion, while stll others assert that it was caused by the tar boiler overflowing into the fire | underneatn. { Intalking about the matter yesterday | Henry Peterson, whose office is only a | short distance from the ollshed, said: “It | appeared to me as if something caught fire in the paintshop and some of the burning oil dropped down on the schooner Katie Mc. In a few minutes she wasin flames and the mooring lines burned | through. The eddy caught the scow and she drifted slowly along the side of the whar! toward the open bay. Every time <he touched the struciure a tongue of flame and a dense black smoke sprang up, and in a shorter time than it takes me to tell it the whole structure was one mass of flame. The Katie Mc’s anchor caught in one of the piles and held her there. My boys went 1o the assistance of the crew and with some difficulty rescued them all.” Folsom-street pier was only just com- pleted and the Oceanic Steamship Com- Coptain pany took potsession yesterday. Howar cern, had already sent from Pacific wharf all the gangplanks, purchase-blocks and gear, cargo planks and cargo shoots, and in fact ail the paraphernalia con- nected with the landing and shipping of passengers and eargo on an osean liner. The i0ss 10 the company comes at a very bad time, as the biz Ay tralian liner Moans, which was due to-moriow, arrived last night. All the burned gear will have to be replaced before she can be docced at that pier. Captain Howard said lust night: *“What the Oceanic Company’s loss will be 1 cannot tell until 1 know just what is lost. Whatever it is, however, I suppose we will have to stand it, as none of our gear was insured. Evervthing had been moved from Pucific-street whari down here with the exception of a few personal effects, the company’s safe and books and Bum. (Bum is the office watchdog, and a more faithful brute never cuarded a wharf.) Well, now, I suppose we will hava to continue in our old quarters, and the opening of a free market on Pacific-street wharf will bave to be postponed.” When the fire was raging at its fiercest the scene was an awe-inspiring one. The flames rose from the entire surface of the building, and the heat from the burning \ar, creosote, oil and turpentine was blis. tering. Time and again the firemen at- tempted to approach, but were driven back by the intense heat. One of them remarked as he poured a bucket of water over him-elf, *We should have Shadrach, Meshak and Abednegc—those iellows whom Nebuchadnezzer threw into a seven- times heated furnace and who walked through the white heat, here, and then we might hope for success.” But the ‘