The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 1, 1899, Page 6

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 189 JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Propretor. 4l Communications to W. S, LEAKE, Manager. PUBLICATION OFFICE......Market and Third Sts, S. F. Telephone Main 1868. EDITORIAL ROOMS..........2I7 to 22| Stevenson Street Telephone Main 1874. THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL (DAILY AND SUNDAY) Is .served by carriers In this city and surrounding towns for IS cents a week. By mall $6 per year: per month €5 cents. THE WEEKLY CALL, 18 pages ..One year. by mall, §i OAKLAND OFFICE... 908 Broadway NEW YORK OFFICE.........Room 188, World Building DAVID ALLEN, Advertising Representative, WASHINGTON (D. C.) OFFICE.. Riggs House €. C. CARLTON, Correspondent. CHICAGO OFFICE........ .. .. Marquette Building €. GEORGE KROGNESS, Advertising Representative. BRANCH OFFICES8—5327 Montgomery strect, corner Clay, open until 9:30 o'clock. 387 Hayes street, open until £:30 o'clock. 681 McAlilster street, open untll 9:30 c'clock. 615 Larkin street, open until 9:30 oTlock. 941 Mission street, open untll 10 o'clock. 2291 Market street, corner Sixieenth, open until 9 o'clock. 2518 Mission street, open untll 9 o'clock. 106 Eleventh street, open until 9 o'clock. 1505 Polk street, open untll 9:30 o'clock. NW. corner Twenty-secand ana Kentucky straets, epen until 9 o'clock. low Dwarf." Squadron.” Vaudevill c A Romance of Coon Hollow." The Chutes—Gorllla Man, Vaudeville and the Zoo. Corner Mason Eddy streets, Specialties. Mission Zoo. Ingleside Cours Central Park- Recreation F Metropoiitan Hall—Rosenthal Piano Recital, Tuesday even- | ag, January | Races to-morrow. HAPPY NEW YEAR. Oakland ITH watch churches, W merry parties at home, with uproar upon the streets, with music and dancing and laughter, | with all forms of joy and modes of expressing it, we have ushered the old year out and welcomed the With goud resolves and with bright services in the with | new year in. expectations the dawn is greeted and out of their own sanguine hopes men and women find the inspiration most cordial wish for a happy new year for all. With the e ion of the me another dry | season which impends above us from our cloudless | ies, there are no reasons for doubting the new of of ace s| year wiil be one of unc pled prosperity for all of | our people. Industry has net only revived from the | long depression but has attained an unprecedented activity. The products of our factories as well as of our farms are making their way in all the great mar- Kets of the earth, and the demand for them has so ex- THE RAILROAD AND ITS CANDIDATE. { JT would be inconceivable, if it were not apparently | §ia pa!pablc fact, that the Southern Pacific Com- | * pany should seriously attempt to foist Dan Burns upon the State of California as the successor of Sen- ator White and the colleague of Senator Perkins. So grotesque a caricature of a true representative of the sovereign dignity of the State would be as anomalous as the horse that Nero elevated to the dignity of a consul. “The excuse for that seemingly mad act might have been that, in the filthy politics and de- based society of those days, the horse was a nobler animal than man. In the case before us, however, no such palliation would exist. The election of Dan Burns woula be nothing less than the wanton and arbitrary exercise of power by a corporation,” drunk with suc and. determined to slap and kick the public with a reckless disregard of consequences. In the late canvass the press and the people were made to believe that the Southern Pacific Company was out of politics. That did not imply that its officers and its employes should abstain from exer- cising their legitimate influence as citizens upon the election. But it did mean that, in a corporate seinse and especially in the methods of canvassing, the hand of the railroad had been withdrawn. It is probably true that, owing to the intelligence and the independ- ence of the people and th -essity of abstinence irom zuy ostensible and improper interference with the exercise of the elective franchise, the result of tte election was an expression in this, as in other States, of the popular will, based upon principle and upon practical issues. But the undisclosed and secret intention to rule the State after the election has now been manifested, unless all signs have failed. It is at least generally believed that the Southern Pacific Company has determined, in the face of every ob- stacle, to elect Dan Burns, and whether this be the actual fact or that Dan Burns is a dummy and used as an adroit diversion to secure the choice of some other candidate equally objectionable, is immaterial. There was never a better chance than the defeat of the fusion candidates offered to extirpate from our local politics every disturbing and corrupt element, to | clcse the long and dreary conflict between the domi- nant railroad and the people, which,. for so many years, has paralyzed enterprise and arrested natural progress and development, and to unite all good citi- zens in a supreme effort to utilize the advantages and | tie opportunities that lie thickly around us and to bring about an era of matchless prosperity and good feeling. The good faith of the Republican press is proved by the unanimity with which it denounces the impudent pretensions put forward by the advocates of the gentle- man from Mexico. And a somewhat important ele- ment to be considered is the Legislature itself. The presumption is that it is a representative body, fresh from its constituents and not owned or to be handled by mercenaries or corruptionists. It is difficult, in- deed impassible, even to conjecture that there could be boldnegs, venality and stolidity enough in the members n?an Assembly and a Senate who less than two months ago were proclaiming their own man- | hood and freedom from railroad influence all over panded our foreign commerce that it has become the marvel of the world. The fear of a possible gold stringency which in the | past haunted the minds of so many persons and ren- | dered some timid capitalists unwilling to venture new | enterprises has been banished. Not only has the| gold supply of the United States been augmented by | importations from abroad as well as from the out- put of our own mines, but ihie gold supply of the world has been enormously increased. It is estimated that within the last seven years the increase of the world's supply of gold has amounted | to as much as forty per cent, and that i the pre\"ent’ rate of gold production continues the world’s supply | will rise during this new year to $5.000,000,000, and | that of this the United States will have more than | $1,(:00,000,000 When the old year began Cuba was ravaged by | Spanish tyranny and the necessity of our interference | even at the risk of war was apparent. Those evils no longer cloud the sky., The war has been gloriously | fought out, and not only Cuba but Porto Rico and | the Philippines as well, have been freed from the old | time oppression, The new year begins with peace | assured at ‘home and abroad. We have added addi- | tional honors to our arms and another glorious page“ te our history. We have also so clearly demonstrated | our military power it is not likely any nation will provoke us to war, and we may, therefore, look forward to another long extended peace. Out of the old year, morever, there comes the as- surance of a restored confidence between the North | and the South which is full of promise for the new. |, 5 | infamy on his head, as a chosen agent of the State | Never since the nation began was there so little of | sectional antagonism in our politics and our social | feelings. In the gladness of that union of hearts as well as of hands the interchange of mutual wishes of prosperity among all parts of the republic will be! more fervent than ever. However it may be with the | fortunes of individuals, that of the Union is likely to | be the brightest and most golden in its history, through all the seasons of the glad new year. The State Superintendent of Instruction does not think teachers’ institutes conducted so as to be help- ful. If this opinion is well founded perhaps he can jnaugurate reforms, Neither are Boards of Educa- tion managed as they should be, but there seems no method of reform short of sending a lot of rogues to jail; and the rogues, each equipped with a pull, refuse to go. An employe of the Wells-Fargo Express Company has run away with $60,000 of its funds, a wicked and reprehensible act. However, it may be he salves his conscience by the reflection that by violation of the internal revenue bill the company had acquired a much larger sum than that with which he eloped. iy Attorney Knight says one can never guess what a jury will do. He might have added that one can safely guess no twelve inteliigent men can be swayed by the bully-ragging tactics of an advocate who treats a witness as a criminai. - . e Nicholas Brennan has escaped punishment for a peculiarly heinous offénse, and there is no way in which he could better express his gratitude than by hanging himself. He owes something to the com- munity now. LG R S Widber says that at the end of his term he will be on Easy street, which being interpreted probably means that he knows where there is some of the gold Mayor Phelan supposed himself to be hefting, If the Dunning case n any measure respqsible for_the instances of potsoning reported from? New York to Texas, perhaps the sequel to it will in some measure serve as an antidote. St When the School Board voted to suspend rules it made a mental reservation as to ‘the rule of acting at the behest of a rascally majority, borhoods where they reside as exemplars of intelli- gence, education and character, to enable them delib- erately to elect a man like Dan Burns at the bidding of a corporation and in the face of the press and the | people. There have been and there are many audacious scoundrels in this world and in this part of the world, but they are not usually sent to those legislative councils which are supposed to form the most complete and the most sensitive connection be- strong nerves and rotten hearts, but there are few | who are more than willing. even anxious, to disgrace | ics not only themselves, but their and their neighbors, and then return to localities where they | must obviously be held in contempt for the remainder | of their lives. Instances of secret corruption are not unfamiliar even under popular institutions, but the unblushing parade of treachery, dishonesty and ser- vility is a rare exception among free American citi- zens. The Republican party is a political organiza- tion which went before the country in the late elec- tions upon its record, its principles and its sturdy professions of patriotism and purity. by many of the ablest and best Democrats, who re- tion of the constitution through bare majorities. What a despicable attitude it would occupy in this State if, within a few weeks of its entrenchment in popular confidence, it became, through its chisla-\ ture, the purchased vassal of a railroad and sent an <posed and arrant knave, with a triple crown of in the Federal Senate. i We do not believe that this unprecedented outrage upon the nation, upon the State, upon the men who fill the seats of Webster, Clay, Calhoun, Benton, Douglas, Collamer, Cass and the other illustrious statesmen who wrought upomn the structure of this mighty nation, will. be perpetrated. We have no reason to disparage the gentlemen who are about to assemble at Sacramento, as recent telegrams pub- lished in The Call amply attest. We feel confident that they will not disparage themselves by sinking into the quagmire which is now shaking beneath their feet. The perception of an attempt even to treat them as lewd apd purchasable justifies indigna- tion and is a sufficient excuse for alarm. California has not usually been represented in the United States Senate by common or by bad men. William M. Gwin was a man of commanding pres- ence, of great ability and energy, familiar with the leading statesmen of the country, who, though not possessed of the charm of oratory or facility in debate, nevertheless accomplished much for this com- monwealth. John B. Weller, first Senator and then Governor, had a national reputation. David C. Brod- erick, whose rise from obscurity to the United States Scnate was a marvelous exhibition of capacity and of force, who lived without a personal vice and who died in honor, was an ornament to the Chamber, in which he discerned the evidence of his father’s handi- work. Milton S. Latham, first Governor and then Senator, possessed brains and culture to an unusual degree. James A. McDougal was powerful in debate and attained a prophetic height by the prescience with which he detected the French designs upon Mexico and strengthened the hands of the patriots who finally executed Maximilian. A. A. Sargent exhihited keen intelligence and knowledge of details, and ably transacted the business of the State and of the country. A. P. Williams was a merchant of broad mind and of unusual capacity for work. Newton Booth was a scholar and a dialectician who secured national renown. We have omitted reference to the incumbents of this high office during recent years, but these are a few names taken from the list of our Senators for nearly half a century. They awaken reminiscences that ex- cite pride and not shame. Of our present Senators it need only be said that they are able, laborious and conscientious men. Justice can ‘casily be imagined casting an eye along murderers’ row and calling, confidently, “Next!” ~ Tf a Senatorship could be purchased, then the sale should be by auction to the highest bidder. the State, and who have been selected in the neigh- | It was helped | jected the free silver heresy and the proposed disrup- | remarkable industry, applied to | AVOoID THE CAUCUS SCHEME. v OWEVER cunningly the campaign of Dan H Burns has been conducted, there is only one way in which he can secure final triumph. This is through the agency of a caucus. No further rea- son need be given why there should be no caucus. There are certain members who are afraid to vote for Burns or a creature of Burns on account of the storm of disapproval which would come from their homes. These members there will be an endeavor to use by means of a caucus. If sixty-one Republicans go into caucus and agree to be bound by the m=ajority rule, as.is often done, then any candidate who gets thirty-one votes will actually, by virtue of the,major- lity rule, receive the indorsement of sixty-one votes, or | ‘'enough members to elect. Thus; by securing thirty- one votes, which is only about one-fourth of the mem- bership of both houses, a candidate can be elected United States Senator. That there is danger of this result must be realized because members who dare not vote for Burns under | other circumstances would shield themselves behind | the following argument: “I did not vote for him. I | never would have voted for him, but we pursued the | usual course, entered a caucus and agreed to be bound | by the votes of the majority.” Thus members who really desire the election of an | objectionable candidate can shield themselves from criticism, and at the same time carry out the wishes of their masters. Let it be understood before any such/action is had that any member who goes into such a caucus will be as blamable if an objectionable candidate be chosen as if he had openly declared him- self for such candidate. The fight from this time on until a Senator has been chosen should be to prevent a caucus of Repub- lican members. Upon the success of this fight de- pends the honor of the ty i G v T HE suggestion that failures of justice such as Ttook place in the Rosser case could be prevented electing * Judges for life reductio ad absurdum. favor of a life judi- more may be said applied to a political sys- | tem such as exists in this city. Undoubtedly life | Judges are more dignified, morc independent and | personally cleaner than elected Judges, but if they are to be introduced here, along with them must come an | entirely new judicial system. Failures of justice are usually due to the weakness, | ignorance or corruption of District Attorneys and juries. The Judges ordinarily try to do their duty. How can juries be improved so long as political Sheriffs summon them and political clerks draw them | from the box? But even if life Judges could change | the laws so as to improve the quality of juries, what remedy is there for a weak, neglectiul or corrupt District Attorney? Judges cannot prosecute crim- inal cases. They can call for evidence, but it will not be forthcoming unless the Police Department gathers it and the District Attorney summons the witnesscs. | Of what avail are the efforts of a conscientious Judge | surrounded by case fixers, weak prosecutors and po- | Iitical jurors? | In the Rosser case there was evidence to show that | the culprit had been drugged while drinking whisky. The place where he obtained the liquor was iden- tified and the firewater itself was carefully described; but it never occurred to anybody to call the saloon- keeper who sold the stuff. In fact, the theory that Rosser had been drugged was the wildest kind of an by appointing or be designated can be said | clary, it is true, lagainst it when it as in but may Much is | tween citizens and the government. Some men have | assumption, which the District Attorney made not the | | slightest . effort to refute. Had he summoned any- | body likely to know the facts, outside of Rosser’s ;cmurndes and l_riends. he could have flatly contra- | dicted the evidence for the defense. | Judges elected or appointed for life would have no | power to prevent farces of this character. They could | not inject intelligence into juries nor thwart the case- | fixers. All they could do would be to perform their i duty, which in most cases they do now. | The weak point in our criminal judicial system is ! found in the prosecution. What every county in Cali- fornia needs is a competent District Attorney. The only way the people can procure the services of such {a man will be to offer to energetic, honest and ca- pable lawyers compensation equivalent to the sums they can make by working for criminals. This is all Emcrc is in the problem. i A District Attorney in San Francisco receiving a salary of $20,000 a year would be a paying invest- | ment. That sum would command the services of a | first-class lawyer, who, once in office, would stay | there so long as virtue continued in the community. y | Such a man would rid the city of criminals in less ithan a year, because he would make, even under the | present system, punishment for all classes of crime absolutely certain. l:chicf surgeon at army headquarters at Tampa H during the war, vn the fresh meat supplied to the army it is evident that General Miles did not exag- gerate when he characterized the stuff as “embalmed beei.” In fact, his language was not severe enough. He might with considerable justness have described it as poisoned beef. In the course of his report Major Daly says: “When detailed to take charge of the transport Panama for conveying convalescents to the United States, I obtained 2000 pounds of fresh beef from the commissary at Ponce. It looked well, but had an { odor similar to that of a dead human body after being } injected with preservatives, and tasted when first | cooked like decomposed bodies smell. After standing 2 day for further inspection it became so bitter, nas- ‘eous and unpalatable as to be quite impossible for use. I was, therefore, obliged, owing to the condition and the complaints of the sick about it, and the dis- gustingly sickening odor it emitted when being | cooked, and its mawkish, flat taste when served, and for the safety of the patients, 255 convalescent soldiers on board, to organize a board of survey, condemn and throw 1500 pounds, all we had, overboard.” The United States is a rich country and is liberal with those with whom it deals. It pays high prices and is entitled to honest goods for its money. More- over, it is a country where all sorts of food supplies exist far beyond the consuming power of its people. For such an act as that of furnishing vile beef to the soldiers at the front there is no excuse whatever. It ! was a criminal swindle and in its motive was about as vicious as that of a woman who sends poisoned candy through the mails. There should be some punishment meted out to the scoundrels who, in their greed for gain, sent such stuff as that to supply our boys at the front and in the hospitals. In many respects the offense is the gravest scandal of the year, and is certainly the baselt. There should be some way of indicting the men who are responsible for the crime on a charge of murder and committing them to the justice and the patriotism | of an American jury. A CRIMINAL SWINDLE. ~ ROM the report made by Major W. H. Daly, CRCRECORS Ve0060060000 06000 ‘Why the people of this country should act like a lot of blithering idiots when- ever the subject of their thoughts hap- pens to be some person with the solitary recommendation, if it be such, of hav- ing possession of unearned and un- merited millions is so difficult to. un- derstand that the attempt to do so is futile. Here is a row raised qver the rumor that Miss Fair is to become the wife of a Vanderbilt, and the papers are full of it. Ac these people are old enough to attend to the matter and as the union would be that of the com- monplace to its kind, there is not the slightest occasion for h);'stel'ics. xiie One thing made certaih by a view and a smell of the political situation in that there must be reforms, including election of Senators by popular vote, or this republic will sink under the weight of internal corruption. Anti- expansionists may howl as they please about the danger of acquiring foreign territory. overriding the constitution, and governing without the consent of the governed, all of which may be con- siderable but the real peril to our in- stitutions is from domestic rot. It has come even now to the pass where the word of a professional politician is worthless. A pledge is nothing, if the other man has the price, and this fact is painful particularly in the election of Senators. It is not possible to buy the people of a State, but that it is possible to buy the members of a Les- islature has been demonstrated again and again, and to this demonstration California has added more than her share. The average legislator seems to have no idea but to put himself on the bargain counter. So long as this shameful condition shall continue there can be no confidence in the stability of the government. It is no longer a government of the people, but the ar- bitrary rule of moneyed rascality. The people are, in faet, powerless. The leg- islator is not wholly to blame. When a man, elected to the Assembly from some walk where he has never earned so great an income as that constituted by his legitimate salary in public life, finds that he can make extra thousands by voting for a particular man for Senator, the temptation is a sore one. It is right that he should be protected against it. It is a grievous wrong that he should be subject to inducements to betray a trust and sell his “honor.” The only way ¢o shield him, to balk the corruption which clinks alluring gold, is to put into the hands of the sometimes fooled but always unpur- chasable public the power of election now concentrated in the hands of a few, the majority of the few unworthy, the minority in part morally weak and if upright then numerically helpless. a etV There seems to be trouble, to the ex- tent of about two illustrated columns | daily, in the Sloane family of New | York. These domestic broils are always saddening, particularly when they get so mixed up with legitimate news that sensible people in scanning the latter cannot avoid getting a glimpse of them. For my part Sloane and his wife may undisturbed throw the dishes at each | other, or in peace, run a race to the divorce court. Their quarrel is as im- portant as that between the coachman and the cook. o e The pardon of ex-Cashier Flood was not surprising. Indeed, he stole so ably and so much that the fact of his con- viction constitutes the only puzzle in the case. A0 e I freely confess to lack of admiration for the medical students who decorated a Christmas tree with the ghastly relics of the dissecting room, the skulls of babes, the half-fleshed hands of the pauper subject, or between *he grin- ning teeth of the desecrated dead set ribald jests. It would appear that by | ordinary effort a medical student might cultivate the ways of decency, and fail to find joy in being a brutal buffoon. i e Congressman-elect Roberts thinks the possession of three wives does not disqualify him for taking his seat, and cites Abraham and others of similar repute as a bolster to his way of living. It does not appear to me that the po- lygamist's choice of models has been fortunate. Abraham may have been a worthy man in some respects, but so far as T can learn these respects failed to become of record. He certainly did not deport himself toward his Sarah as a gentleman should have done, and his scheme for sticking a butcher knife into his son does not win the approval of the thoughtful despite its beauteous effectiveness as a Sunday-school text. I have always wondered at the ambi- tion to secure final refuge in Abraham’s bosom, as the experience would seem to me to be one to avoid. However, this is apart from the main issue. Rob- erts has been chosen by the people of Utah, where women are voters. That the choice was an insult to the nation which made the mistake of supposing the Mormons sincere in the avowed re- nuneciation of objectionable tenets, that it was even an insult to Congress, which is a body not easily insulted, there can be no question; and yet there seems a probability that the nation and Congress will have to swallow the af- front. If Utah is fit to be a State, it is fit to choose its representatives, and such disgrace as may be involved will rest upon that commonwealth. o e te Murderer Dunham is said to be in jail in Ohio and in Iowa, a manifest impos- sibility even for a person of his at- tainments. More likely his bones are whitening in the hills not far from ths scene of crime. Peace officers are sometimes stupid, but there does not seem to be a shadow of basis for the belief that this monster could baffle them all save by the method of sui- 0000000000000 000000 00000000000600608000Q WITH ENTIRE FRANKNESS. By HENRY JAMES. 00009 OOOCOOPOOOS LR ¢ S 606600600 cide, a process effective as hanging, as a means of restraining the individual, but lacking in force as an example. R R To some extent admiration seems to have been withheld from the Corbin scheme of clearing Santiago harbor of mines by sending into it a boat fortified with baled hay. Whether a shell such as would have sunk a cruiser would have glanced harmlessiy from a fort built of mule fodder is a matter which may never be determined. I am of the opinion that the fodder would have | been dissipa ed, tte men behind it blown to kingdom come and the hardship of hunger visited upon the faithful mule. However, a plain civilian has no right to vaunt himself as to matters military. R I notice with regret the death of Mrs. Elizabeth Mallon of New York, a bright and brainy woman, whose work in the Ladies’ Home Journal it has been a and a duty to excoriate. Judged by the Bok standard, this work was excellent, enough to condemn it in the judgment of common sense. It was written over the signature “Ruth Ashmore,” and consisted of namby- pamby advice to milk-and-water girls, reeked of piety and altogether was the perfection of Bokanalian literature. But as “Bab” Mrs. Mallon wrote reason albeit with a tinge of wickednes 1 do not mean this in an invidious sense, but simply that she displayed a knowl- edge of the world. To be able to as- sume two characters so distinct, in each fulfilling the requirements, showed Mrs. Mallon to be a person far above the common. The hired writer, ordi- narily, must do that which the payer of the hire requires. This is not always | easy, but the ability to adapt oneself to the requirements of the moment is the indication of genius. It shows, moreover, that as a molder of public opinion the writer is handicapped. R My entire sympathy is with General Miles in his assaults upon the thrifty gentlemen who sold the Government rotten beef for the use of the soldiers in Cuba. He should be court-martialed for making complaint, and thus be en- abled to complete the expose. Con- tractors who. would be guilty of the crime alleged ought to have their plants confiscated, and themselves exiled to t distant isle acquired during the war, as traitors to the country. Rl et A gentleman by name Crane, by pro- fession a preacher, and by intrinsic character a thorn in the side of civili- zation, arises to rebuke President Mc- Kinley for having uttered pleasant and conciliatory words during his recent trip in the South. Brother Crane, how- ever, neglects to fortify himself by any excerpt from the Writ which I doubt not he ably expounds. If he believes all he says, his duty is to provide himself a bloody shirt and a musket and en- deavor in operation. .= ies e The Supervisors about to retire have refused to do anything toward estop- ping burials in the city cemeteries, This circumstance alone ought to be enough to commend the plafm. The folly of try- ing to maintain a series of burying grounds while the growth of the town ig pressing around and beyond them is manifest to anybody who thinks, This. does not by any means imply that it is manifest to a Supervisor. The ceme- taries are foredoomed to go, and the delay, however brought about, will only make more expensive the ultimate re- moval. A graveyard is not only a som- ber blot when in the center of popula- tion, but it is a menace to health and a bar to progress. The reason for opposing removal in the present in- stance is not deference to the dead, but the selfish interests of the living, and a small minority of the living at that. o “B. H.” Nobody that I know of has been advocating the “doctrine” that nations flourish, decline and die. That statement is but the setting forth of fact. As to whether or not the setting forth is politic there may be diverse opinions. Some people do shy at the truth. However, as to this nation, we can have the comfort that we as indi- viduals will decline and die first. CR e There were some features of the Bot- kin trial open to the criticism of any equipped with mental faculties. The abuse to which the witnesses for the State were subject was without ex- | cuse, and decency can make no plea for it. To be a witness is not to be a criminal. On the contrary, it is to per- form a duty required not alone by the interests of justice, but by the specific terms of the law. One having knowl- edge of a crime and concealing it be- comes an accessory and must bear a measure of the guilt. Yet those who responded to statutory summons and threw such light as they could upon an awful deed of murder were insulted by the prisoner's attorneys, their reputa- tions assailed wantonly while they were helpless before the gaping throng of idlers and degenerates. Later, the in- sults were renewed. By what right does a lawyer classify a working girl who from necessity wears glasses as “a goggle-eyed pot-walloper”? Where is the bravery in attacking an unpro- tected woman? There should be less of such brutality. That a lawyer can be a gentleman has been demonstrated, but that some lawyers can't has been made equally clear. Another feature of the trial even more disgusting was the presence day after day of a lot of females delighting their morbid souls with the offal from the sinks of in- iquity where the Botkin woman had wallowe "~ and -here they would wal- low had they the charms to attract companionship. The poor things can't lwell indulge their instincts without the 1 L e e W VOV IVOTOLIOVIVOLOVSOH LS T oo Yo B oot Totie e dedo el 2 FATHER PRENDERGAST ; EXD MISS VIRGINIA FAIR To the Editor of The Call—Sir: Some person in New Yok must be gifted with a marvelous imagination. patch from Miss Fair and that I answered it, but in neither dispatch was there one-word about Rome or Cardinal Rampolla, or Cacholic, or Pro- testant, or bishop, or priest, or religion, Apart from these high subjects, there are living questioss in abundance to account for the telegrams; for instance, the prospects of the restora- tion to health of the young Emperor of China. It is true that I received one dis- or dispensation, or marriage. J. J. PRENDERGAST. § to set his plan of fraternity | necessary Dunning, and so they sat and drooled at the relation of orgies in which participation had been denied them. Another. variety was on hand for the pleasure of seeing one of their sex suffer. Every shoi of accusation which pierced the fatly fortified hide of the prisoner was a joy to them. Every allusion to the gallows, causing the prisoner to doff her raiment of blithe- someness and wince, was to them a separate boon, its coming greeted with a knowing smile. The murder was hor- rible, each particle of direct testimony a jar to the senses, the levity of the central figure disgusting, but the most debased and debasing phase of the event, the one to excite the greatest apprehension, loathing, creepiness, was the throng of lewd and leering creat- ures scrambling for a chance to dabble |in filth and heartless as a band of harpies. AROUND TH CORRIDORS Thomas Welch of San Jose is at the Russ. 1 R. Vance of Vallejo is at the Occi- dental. W. C. Knight of Laramie is at the Cali- fornia. . Thorndyke of Seattle arrived at lace yesterday: te Senator J. T. Laird of Alturas is ng at the Grand. T. M. Blakeley of Poppinsville, Ky., is a guest at the Lick. W. H. Seamons of Sacramento Is reg- istered at the California. C. H. Phillips, a prominent banker of San Jose, s at the Palace. J. H. Martin, a prominent cattle dealer of Woodland, is at the Russ. D. S. Lightner, 2 mining man from San Jose Dr. H. W. Patterson of New York is at the Grand. J. J. Holloron of New Orleans was among the arrivals at the Russ yester- da A. L. Gamble of the United States rev- enue ship Rush is a guest at the Cali- fornia. J. P. Abbott of Antioch and Charles King of Hanford are two of the guests at the Lick. G——0—9——6—®—® Hardly had | President High- ® CAPTAIN * balls called the SURESHOT AND 4 Sazarac Lying Club to order last ” THE SQUIRRELS. & night before the 2 & i trouble that had ©—0—0—4—9—8—®—9 peen brewing for some time between Captain Sureshot and Mr. Saltedmines broke loose with un- bridled fury. It is a well known fact that Captain Sureshot, according to his state- ments, never missed anything but a train in his life. When he was coming out to California in '49, he stated, -he used to kill two Indians at every shot. Finally he got such a reputation that the redskins | refused to molest the emigrant train if they knew that the captain was in it. When the train would encamp for the night the captain would take his rifle and | go out for a little game, and he says that he never had to shoot. When the deer, bear or quail would see him coming they would deliver themselves up, as they knew that it was no use to try and es- cape. Of late the captain has been en- tertaining the club with stories of how he taught Mr. Saltedmines to shoot when the latter was his guest some years ago in Southern California. Now it appears that recently Mr. Saltedmines told of an incident connected with his visit to Cap- tain Sureshot that the latter had forgot- ten to mention, and it was the following story that caused the stormy session of the club last night: ‘ When Mr. Saltedmines was the cap- tain's guest he used to sit out on_the porch in the afternoons, and while the captain was sleeping in the hammock he would shoot at the squirrels, which were very plentiful in the trees that sur- rounded the residence. It occurred to him one day that he wanted to have some fun with his host, so while the lat- ter was quietly snoozing he climbed a tree and by the means of a wire fixed two squirrels that he had killed securely to a limb. Then he resumed his seat on the porch and waited for the captain to awake. When he did so Mr. Saltedmines deftly turned the conversation to the de- sired subject, and called the captain’s at- tention to the squirrels. They offered an excellent mark, and Captain Sureshot re- marked that one of them would never know what had hit him. He picked up the rifle and took a deliberate aim and fired. The squirrel did not move. The captain examined the rifle, then looked at Mr. Saltedmines and then up at the tree, where sat the squirrel perfectly un- disturbed. “He knows you,” sald the captain’s guest, “and he is not afraid. So this is a sample of your marksmanship that you have been bragging about!” The captain let out & good full-grown oath, and then he took a rest. Long, de- liberate and sure was his aim. He fired. Again the two squirrels sat motionless on the limb. In a few seconds the captaln had the air blue as indigo. Next he went under the tree and still the squir- rels did not move. He shook his hat at them, yelled and finally threw a stone up the tree. The squirrels never moved. By this time Captain Sure- shot was wild. He took off his coat and climbed the tree. When he overed how' he had been victimized he came down like a streak of lightning, but Mr. Saltedmines had fled. That was ten years ago, and yesterday the perpetrator of the joke told it. When the captain found it out he got on the warpath. As soon as the club met he openly attacked Mr. Saltedmines, whom he accused of violating the laws of the club, which pro- vide that while 2 member may lie his soul into eternal perdition he must never perpetrate a joke on any other member. President Highballs put the captain’s mo- tion that Mr. Saltedmines be fined. It was carried, and thus harmony was re- stored in the club. W. T. Davis of Chicago is registered at the Palace. F. M. Gray of San Jose is a guest at | the Occidental. Mr. and Mrs. W. Jatks of Monterey are at the Palace. E. A. Bremner of London is registered at the Palace. W. 8. Melick of the Pasadena News is at the Grand. J. A. Brent of the Ivanhoe mine is stay- ing at the Grand. G. 8. Nixon of Nevada arrived at the Palace yesterday. Leonard A. Crane of Santa Cruz is a guest at the Palace. Railroad Commissioner-etect N. Black- stock of Ventura is at the Grand. E. Dinkelsplel, a well known merchant of Suisun, is a guest at the Grand. Colonel 1. N. Peyton, a prominent rail- road contractor of Spokane, is a guest at the Palace. C. H. Watt and A. C. Johnson, two prominent citizens of Los Angeles, ar- rived at the Occidental yesterday. —_——— Our famous broken candy, 3% Ibs in handsome Japanese baskt, 50c. Townsend* ——— The best Xmas present—Townsend Cal- ifornia Glace Fruits, 50c in fire etched boxes or Japanese baskets. 627 Mar! st., Palace Hotel building. k.(’t ——————— Tov\'n‘:end's r:.‘::lutornia glace fruits, 50c 1b., in fire etched boxes or Japanese bas- kets. 627 Market st., Palace Hotel blag.s —_—— Special information suppiied daily to business houses and public men by the Press Clipping Bureau (Allen's), 510 nte zomery street. Telephone Maln 1042,