The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 15, 1899, Page 6

THE SA FRANCISCO CALL, SATURDAY, APRIL 15, 1899 - JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Froprietor. Address All Communications to W. S. LEAKE, Manager. L2 S s Borem iz s ;/L'BLICATION OFFICE......Market and Third Sts.. S. F. Telephone Main 1868, EDITORIAL ROOMS 2T to 281 Stevensan Street Tel faln 1874. DELIVERED BY CARRIERS, 16 CENTS PER WEBEK. Single Coples, B cents. Terms by Mail, Including Postag: DAILY CALL (including Bunday Call), one ye: | DAILY CALL (inciuding Sunday Call), 6 mont 3.00 | DAILY CALL tincluding Sunday Call), $ month .. 150 | DAILY CALL—By Single Month. 650 | SBUNDAY CALL One Year 1.50 | WEBKLY CALL, One Year.. . 1.00 | All postmasters are authorized to receive subecriptions. Sample copies will be forwarded when requested. OAKLAND OFFICE..... ‘ ..908 Broadway NEW YORK OFFICE..... DAVID ALLEN, Advertising Representative. WASHINGTON (D. C.) OFFICE.........Wellington Hetel C. €. CARLTON, Correspondent. CHICAGO OFFICE...... ; ...Marquette Building C.GEORGE KROGNESS, Advertising Represcatative. BRANCH OFFICES—-527 Montgomery street, corner Clay, open until 9:30 o'clock. 367 Hayes street, open until 030 o'clock. 621 McAllister street, open until 9:30 o'clock. 615 Larkin street, open until 9:30 o'clock. | 941 Mission street, open until 10 o'clock. 280! Marke street, corner Sixteenth, open until 9 o'clock. 25 Mission street, open until 9 o'clock. 106 Eleventh street, open untll 9 o'clock. 1505 Polk st until 9:30 o'clock. NW. corner Twenty-se Kentucky strests. open until 9 o'clock. AMUSEMENTS. "Robin Hood. ‘Queen’s Lace Handkerchief." Golden Locks.' Theater—Vaudeville every afternoon fason and streets, Specialties. se—Sauer Recitals, Wednesday afternoon, Steeplechase. a Co., Market street, near Eighth—Bat- g, to-day. | 5 day. ving Pictures, Monday, April 17. bay resort. Amusements every | 2 and § p. m., at 3 | | and 2:30 p. | , at 10:30 a. m. at 11 o'clock, Furniture, | THE JEFFERSON BANQUETS. } IOCRACY ha celebrated the | ¢ of Jefferson with many banquets, two | ich are at New York, rany feasted the gold wing of the party opolitan Opera-house at $10 a plate amid with a glori this year notable—one of w where in the Me 1s galaxy of ladies | n, and one at where Colonel the exuberance of his rhetoric himseli we Milwaukee, loose Carter i turn and Harrison declared a young less the banquets were enjoyed by those who k part in them, but the oratory at each fell far short of public expecta Not one of the speakers ie clear an avenue by which Democrac; cape frony the confusion in which it is involved, nor serve as a rallying cry te ation. m can es- uttered a sentence which sorganized hosts. The only fact revealed by the speeches of the rival nquets is that the Bryanites in a much her degree than their opponents the courage of They know what they wish, and | are not afraid to declare it. s ever in reaffirming his devotion to the Chicago | platiorm, while no speaker at the New York gather- | ing was emphatic in condemning it. The motto of | the Bryanites seems to be “iree silver or nothing,” while that of the Tammany group is “anything for | for the ¢ have hi their convictions. Bryan was as outspoken victory On the questions arising out of the war with Spain the division between the two was as marked as on that of the monetary standard, and here also the ut- es at Milwaukee were much clearer and more ided than those at New York. Bryan plainly de- »d expansion, while in New York the speakers contented themselves with eulogizing Jefferson’s ac- compiishment in’the way of expansion, and only by | that sort of indirection gave approval to the imperial- | ism t noun hey favor but dare not openly avow. The eches which are likely to attract most at- | ion are those of Carter Harrison at Milwaukee d of Robert B. Roosevelt at New York. They pre- sent in a striking way the decision whieh prevails in | the Western camp and the doubt and hesitation that | pervade the Democracy of the East. Harrison de- | ed the example had been set for Democracy in | the person of its national leader, whom he described as one “of private life so stainless, with a personal character so blameless, that the people followed him, | with the zeal of Crusaders.” | the tone of Roosevelt. Democ- is l16oking earnestly for the leader who | will give expression to its principles and guide it | once more on the road to the success which it de- serves. There never was a time when a great party ceded a great leader. It has been said that the ses to meet the occasion. t W Here is the where is the man | Such is the contrast between the two factions of | Der presented at the Jefferson banquets. | One faction has its platform and its leader and sup- ports both without hesitation. The other is groping in the d ss and, full of doubt and dismay, calls for a leader and wonders from what direction he will | come. cracy d last night from Los Angeles Sacramento air and water have not worked wonders for Governor Henry T. Gage. He has in his system as a gift for three months’ atten- tion to duty.” This news will come as a surprise to the peaple of Sacramento, who never suspected, as they watched the Governor suck wine through a straw, that he was man of the people enough to drink water. A dispatch reces reads: Some people say that Gage will not make a very ...Room 188, World Bullding ‘ i seriously. IRRITABLE GOVERNMENT. AN HE predominant characteristic of the present TState administration is personal irritability. | Evyery time a newspaper man presumes to ad- | dress Governor Gage upon a subject which interests | the people, whose servant he is supposed to be, that individual flies into a passion and roundly denounces | everybody within a radius of several miles. The Gov- | ernor's favorite game is the press, and he never jncglccts an opportunity to express his contempt for | newspapers, newspaper men, newspaper methods and newspaper morals. We have already noted his con- | temptuous reference to a rumor that he contemplated entering the newspaper business himself. He said that nothing on earth would ever cause him to de- scend to the “newspaper level’—of morality, we sup- pose, although having already descended to the Dan Purns level of politics it would not seem to be a precipitous path for his Excellency to travel. This personal irritability, however, is not confined to Governor Gage. His partner, Mr. Denis of Los | Angeles. appears to be a splice off the same kind of a main brace. The other day a reporter presumed to | ask Mr. Denis if he aspired to the position of Code Commissioner, and this was that gentleman’s cour- teous reply: “The yellow journals of this coast seem to think I have no rights that should be respected. They yank me out of bed, take me from my meals and act as if they thought I were a lackey to the peo- ple of California or a messenger-boy to the Governor. I am neither one nor the other—simply a citizen of the commonwealth and not the custodian of the pri- vate affairs of others.” We do not know how this sort of conduct is re- garded in Los Angeles, but up here it is esteemed | among polite people to be boorishness. If Mr. Gage (and Mr. Denis are representative Southern Califor- nians there is certainly occasion for the introduction | into that region of a system of polite education among | public men. There is no excuse, in fact, for any such !conduct as is being reported of these two politicians. i)lr, Denis may or may not be a candidate for Code | Commissioner. But in any event he is bound to treat | those who address him civil questions with the cour- tesy which becomes all gentlemen, in whatever walk of life they may happen to be cast. Of course it is no discredit to California that she is possessed of an irritable government. Our people .| are not responsible because Governor Gage does not cultivate the manners of a gentleman nor because he has a bad liver or a perturbed stomach. But these little things among thoughtless people are regarded If Mr. Denis is goirig to become a part of the government, and the whole thing is to continue to be irritable, it will be in order to call in a physi- cian and have some soothing medicine administered. R that arrangements have been made for laying an ocean cable across the Pacific from Van- couver to Australia. The cost of construction is to’ be defrayed by the Governments of Great Britain, Canada and the Australian colonies. As reported, the line is to run from Vancouver to Fanning Island, and from that station one hranch will be laid to Australia and another to New Zealand. The announcement of such a programme on the part of the British will of course stimulate the United States Government to provide an ocean cable from San Francisco, or some adjacent point, to Hawaii and thence westward to Japan and China. Such lines would be of great value to the Government at this time gnd of the highest value to our commerce at all times. The laying of the Canadian cable, in fact, will almost compel us to act promptly in providing our- selves with an Oriental line, if we expect to compete with Great Britain for supremacy in Pacific Ocgan commerce on anything like equal terms. Conservative and slow as the British are in many things, they are always fairly alert in matters of com- merce, and however advantageous it may be to them in case of war to have a cable from Canada to Aus- tralia, it is safe to say the main motive that prompts them in undertaking the proposed enterprise is one springing from their conceptions of the vast value of Pacific Ocean trade. Having strong possessions on three sides of the vast ocean, Canada, Australia and Hongkong, the British are preparing to make full use of the advantage the position gives them, and their merchants are having all the support and aid the Government can afford. 7 It is certainly high time for the United States PACIFIC OCEAN CABLES. ECENT reports from Ottawa are to the effect to | give serious consideration to her Pacific Ocean trade. The Eastern States seem to regard this coast as a sort of outlying province, facing away from the big world of trade and industry and therefore of compara- tively little importance. It is only recently that even the most intelligent of their people have begun to note that the Pacific Ocean is to be the center of com- mercial activity in the future. Hence in the past our interests have been overlooked, and as we have not been careful to send a strong delegation to Congress and keep it there unchanged term after term we have not obtained from the Government even what would have been granted had we been more persistent in urging it. . It is folly to waste en miserable wars in the Philip- | pines the money and the energy which otherwise ap- plied would provide us with ocean cables to the Orient and with a merchant marine equal to the task of competing with that of our strongest rivals. The true expansion for the United States is that of indus- try and commerce, and if the laying of the Canadian cable shall have the effect of rousing our Government to act wisely and promptly in its true interests we shall gain more from the enterprise than the Canadians themselves. POTATOES IN WASHINGTON. STRIKING illustration of the rapidity with flwhich the prices of staple articles sometimes fluctuate, even when there is no speculation to affect the market, was given in a report from Tacoma on Thursday concerning the rise in the prices of po- tatoes in Washington. According to the report, “po- tatoes are now bringing as much a$ eggs” in the markets of that State. “People are buying them practically by the dozen. They cost over 2 cents a pound and are becoming scarcer every day.” The scarcity of the potato supply and the resulting pepular Governor for the very good reason that heihigb price is due to a combination of events not has no personal magnetism. That may be so, but rcally there are some hopes for a .man that had enough of the occuit power to draw after him a band of sheep from Siskiyou County to Los Angeles. An undertaker who served in the campaign at Porto Rico says that the embalmed beei of Uncle Sam made him sick. As an embalmer and funeral director it would seem that the gentieman should have found the beef to his liking. PR Isn't it possible that the nickel-in-the-slot outrage attached to local telephones could be suppressed by the police? It's a mere gamble any time you drop a likely ever to occur again coincidently. In the first place the gold excitement of last season caused a large stock of potatoes to he evaporated for the Alaskan and Klondike trade. That demand drained the market to a considerable .extent. Then the drought in this State limited the production here, and the season turned out badly for the crop in Washing- ton and Oregon. Thus it came about that nature and the Klondike craze together cornered the market. The Tacoma report says prices have advanced un- til jobbers are paying as high as $42 a ton for good potatoes, while hardly more than six months ago bet- ter potatoes were sold in the Yakima and Walla Walla valleys for $6 a ton. It was noted, moreover, coin that you'll get a connection. | that whereas in past years new potatoes from Cali- fornia have been in the Puget Sound markets by this time, very few have arrived so far this season. It ap- pears the potato-grower is to have his innings at last, and for a time at any rate may indulge the feeling of lord of the market. We have in this case another proof of the narrow- ness of the margin that separates prosperity from comparative destitution even in the most civilized of countries. Humanity produces in any, one season just about enough to carry it over until the next har- vest comes. When a bad year intervenes and a crop fails or falls short there is trouble. Where the means of communication and transporta- tion are easy and economical the evil resulting from one year’s failure of a crop in any particular locality is not great, for supplles can be sent in from the out- side. But where transportation is .costly famines occur. They were frequent in Western Europe during the middle ages, they are common in some parts of Russia to this day. . As the high price of potatoes in Washington proves, even the most industrious farmers on the most fertile lands may sometimes fail to produce enough to feed the population dependent on them. It is certainly strange, however, that the Pacific Coast States, the most productive section of the Union, should have reached a point where in one important center of its population potatoes are worth as much as eggs. THE ELECTION OF SENATORS. — N the day the Pennsylvania Legislature com- O pleted the fourth month of its session it was | noted that during that time it had passed but three bills. These bills, moreover, were not of a nature to occupy much time, There was no filibus- tering to prevent the passage of any of them. Had the Legislature been so disposed, all of them might have been dealt with within a week and other meas ures taken up. | The fact is the Pennsylvania legislators have been | too busy to attend to business. As all the world | knows, they have had a Senatorial fight on hand all | winter, and it remains unfinished to this time. In} | | despair of being able to elect a Senator or doing any- | thing else, the Legislature recently adopted a resolu- tion providing for the appointment of a committee to confer with the Legislatures of other States on the subject of reform in the system of electing Sena- tors. The committee is to report at the legislative ses- { sion in 190I. In taking the leadership in a movement to bring the issue into the domain of practical politics the Pennsylvania Legislature has at least accomplished something. It is certain a strong effort will be made at the next session of Congress to provide for the election of Senators by a plurality vote of the Legis- latures. Such a change would be worse than what we have now. The popular demand is for election by di- rect vote of the people. It will take a long time of course to accomplish the needed amendment to the constitution, but it will be better to take the time and do the work thoroughly than to try any short cuts to reform. As the Philadelphia Inquirer says: “We believe in this reform, for it would end deadlocks and bring the question right home to the voters. Delaware, Califor- nia and Utah have not been able to choose a Senator, and Pennsylvania apparently is to be left with only one Senator because of the malice displayed by a small minority. There is danger in such refusal to obey the will of the majority, and the only positive way to enforce majority rule is to refer the election of Senators to the popular vote of the people. The work of organizing in behalf of such a desirable change must be undertaken by some one, and it is fitting that the Keystone State should inaugurate the move- ment.” MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP IN LONDON THE toiling millions of London who Iiye between starvation and semi-starvation have cause to look upon the street railway employes of the great city with feelings akin to envy. The municipality a short time ago became the owner of the tramways, which were placed by the County Council in the con- | trol of the Highways Committee. 3 The first step taken by the committee was to im- prove the condition of the men and women employed on the lines. The Westminister Gazette in giving the first results of this experiment in paternalism says: The committee regards it as essential that'the wages pald by the Council should Vbe equivalent to the best rates paid for similar work in other parts of the County of London; and that the Council's rule with regard to one day’s rest in seven should apply to the tramway’s employes. The policy of one day's rest {n seven will necessitate the employment of more men, involving an increased expenditure of £9105. Various officials obtain a rise of salaries un- der revised conditions, and the wages of the women- checkers are to be increased by about 15 per cent. Hitherto the conductors have been provided with uniform coats. The committee contemplate extend- ing the boon to drivers, “having regard to the ex- posure to which they are subjected,” and to pro- vide both classes with uniform caps. This involves an additional cost of £1600 per annum. Horsekeep- ers now receive from 23 shillings to 25 shillings for a seven-day week. The committee propdse that they should receive 26 shillings for a six-day week. Drivers and conductors are to have an increase of 8 pence per day. As to profits. from the municipal trams for the year 1899-1900, the committee make this gratifying announcement: “If the whole of our recommendations be adopted by the Council the sum of about £39,100 will, we anticipate, still be available for relief of the rates.” The eyes of the good people who dwell in the city of Detroit will watch the London experiment with great interest, for Detroit has decided that its street railways shall become municipal property. Tt is prob- able the politicians also of the Michigan town are watching the experiment with wide-open eyes, for | municipal ownership opens up a tempting field to the practical politicians. Senator Perkins took occasion at the turers’ and Producers’ banquet to say some nice things about C. P. Huntington. The suspicion is growing that he evolved them from his imagination. It is safe to say, at any rate, that before making the remarks he did not consult Mrs. Stanford or George Crocker. ’ —_— i May 1, the recognized moving day in the East, also the moving day in the Far East, since Dewey com- pelled the Spaniards to get up and dust, has been made a legal holiday in Pennsylvania. The Sons of Vermont in California propose to make the anni- versary one to be remembered in this State. Manufac- A cablegram from Manila announces the interest-" ing fact that Aguinaldo has killed seven more of his officers for sedition. It was hardly to be expected that the insurgent chief would become so accommo- dating an American ally in removing Filipino generals to a better land. United States Senator George C. Perkins told an Oakland audience on Tuesday night that he had never seen a member of the United States Senate enter a saloon. Senator Perkins should without de- g::ofi'rflg&:z;FBHEEC;‘;F'J‘RG&‘:&?:“'R‘;E . publican, of Los Angeles, and James Car- lay place himself under the care of an oculist. | Ton Needham, Republican. of Modester" Police Judge Mogan feels that the that Jones' acquittal was due to his being made to stand responsible for that a man can escape responsibility he is acting as the agent or employe surd. tions to the jury in the Jones case I there is no distinction made. worded paragraphs. Under the law 1 accept or reject the same. “Most of them I rejected. I had : $ 2 g e H % : $ @ H i $ $ $ & charge.” -0*9*®*®*0*®*®*®*@*®¥:®*@*\'s\*@*@*‘@*@*@*@*@*@*@*?*@*@*@*@*0 PAYMENT OF JURORS’ FEES To the Editor of The Call—Dear Sir: There is one matter in connection with the existing statutes of our State which in my judgment should be remedied. At present the jurors in civil cases are paid by the losing party in the end, as a part of the costs. In most of the States, particularly the Southern States, which are now among the poor- est, there is a jury tax of a few dol- lars in every case where suit is brought and a jury trial can be had, and this tax is paid whether the parties waive a jury trial or not. .This enables the poorest citizen to have a jury trial. It is true that if the fund arising from | this uniform tax of a few dollars is not always sufficient to pay the jurors 0*0*@*0*@*@*@*@*@*@*0*@*@*@* SROXDAOXOXOAOXROXPROAORORO® JUDGE MOGAN DEFENDS HIMSELF. the Ingleside racetrack case is severe, inasmuch as he emphatically denles * s not the law, he says, and every schoolboy ought to know it. In regard to the instructions, Judge Mogan says: that a person acting as clerk or employe for a bookmaker making a bet on a race is not amenable to the law. Under the ordinance passed by the Board of Supervisors every person, whether employer, employe or individual, is criminally liable if he makes such a bet. Conceding that fact, it is highly improbable that I delivered any instructions to the jury in opposition thereto. “A defendant has the right to request the court to deliver certain in- structions, and in this case his attorney tendered twenty-four carefully to pass upon them, and while it is possible that sentences may have crept into the charge, still I doubt it very much. I am not and was not aware of it and positively do not recollect any such the balance is made up by the county. As a jury in many cases is essential to the ends of justice, and as the jury is as much a necessary part of the ma- | chinery of a court of justice as the| | judge himself, why should a citizen be | compelled to pay so large and onerous | {a charge as the entire jury fees any | | more than he should be compelled to | | pay a part of the salary of the Judge? | In the United States courts the juries are paid by the United States Govern- | ment and not by the parties to the suit. | Why should not our Legislature relieve ! a poor fellow having a meritotious case | from so onerous a burden? The fact | | is that the heavy burden of jurors’ fees | and shorthand reporters’ fees in ad- | vance is a substantial denial of justice | | to many worthy men. In short I be- | lieve, and many years’ practice in the | courts of several of the States and in | the United States courts has enabled me to observe much in reference to | such matters, that the shorthand re- porters should be paid a decent salary | by the county, when they officiate, and |a fixed tax of say $10 in each case, whether he is needed or not, should be paid by each litigant before trial of | the case, and a jury tax of say $5 in| | all cases. In the State of Mississippi, | | for instance, the jury tax in all civil | | cases that can be tried by a jury is| $3, and this method has been found for | mdre than fifty years to be perfectly satisfactory. Courts of justice, in order | | to be of real service, should be within | the reach of every man who has a just | | cause, and the excessive fees that now | have to be paid by suitors make it | | impossible for many a person to have | his* legal rights. | I do not wish to be understood to | have any desire to injure any ene in | my view of this matter, for I am | strongly in favor of every officer of | court being paid a decent and fair | salary, .but the whole of what is now a | very onerous burden should not be laid | upon the litigant. The State is under obligation to furnish all its citizens | with access to the courts, and it should | not shoulder off the main part of the | expense of having such access upon the litigant. H. S. FOOTE. San Frantisco, April 14, 1899. 'THE HOUSE IN ‘ THE WOOD| To the Editor of The Call—Dear Sir: A curious mistake has found its way | on the very first page of your to-day’s | paper. 1 would like to point it out to | you, as it seems a pity to let an other- | wise so well-informed and forward | paper blunder over a little matter like this. In speaking of the palace which will | be the seat of the future Peace Con- | ference in The Hague, the name “Huis | ten Bosch” is translated as “House of | Wood.” This should be ‘“House in | the Wood” (forest). The preposition ‘te” (ten) can never have any other | | meaning but one of local definition, and | | is equivalent to the German “zir."” Per- | haps your inférmant got hold of a French guide book, in. which the palace undoubtedly is called “La Maison au | Bois,” which could have a double meanin This 00d” is the pride of The Hague and of Western Hoiland, where trees of any size are rare. It is one of the three remnants of an extensive forest, which once covered the coast |line. The other two are near Haarlem |and Alhmaar, and called in variance “Hout,” or ‘“Den Hout” (“Holz” in German). | *“Het Huis ten Bosch” has almost | passed into oblivion since the death of | Queen Sophy, the late King's first wife. It was the favorite residence of this| | highly intellectyal woman, her “refuge’ | when the frequent soclety of her not very intellectual husband proved too much for her power of endurance. Yours very truly, J. VAN DEN BROCK. 742 O’Farrell street. ——————— ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. JOE CHOYNSKI-W. 8., City. Joe Choynski, the pugllist, was born in San Francisco November. 8, 1868. BORN ON SHIPBOARD-—Subscriber, City. A child born on board of an Eng- lish ship in the harbor of 8an Francisco | would be a native of California. DEAD ROPES—S., City. “Dead ropes” on board of a ship are those ropes which are fixed, or do not run on blocks; so call- ed because they have no activity or life in them. MESSENGER—Paudo, City. Those who are appointed as messengers under the civil service rules are such as are em- ployed in the bank, mint and assay serv- ice, the custom house service and the ord- nance department. If it is your desire to enter the ordnance department you can | apply at army headquarters for applica- ' tion blanks, and if you desire to take an examination in the other departments named, apply at the head of each of the departments for blanks. At each place you will be informed as to the time when the examination wi held. REPRESENTATIVES—K. E. B., Santa Maria, Cal. California’s Representatives | to the Fifty-fifth Congress were John A. Barham, Marion de Vries, Samuel G. Hil- born, James G. Maguire, Bugene F. Loud, Charles A. Barlow and Curtis H. Castle. Thomas B. Reed, Republican, of Maine, was the Speaker of the House during the session which closed on the 4th of March, . The Representatives from Califor- nla to the fifty-sixth session are: John A. Barham, Republican, of Santa Rosa; Marion de Vries, Democrat, of Stockton: Victor Metcalf, Republican, of Oakland: Julius Kahn, Republican, of San Fran. criticism in The Call of his course ‘in instructions to the jury. He objects to the law, as the verdict gives it, for it The plea for a criminal act on the ground that of another, Judge Mogan says is ab- “In my own instruc- made no reference to the proposition @*@*@*a*@w*@*omw‘ There is no doubt of that, and am obliged to examine each one and but ten minutes during the argument some carefully prepared MAOAOROR RO KO RO RO KO X SHOWER OF BITUMEN FROM A CLEAR SKY PECULIAR ACCIDENT AT MAR- KET AND WALLER. Cover to a Cooking Cauldron Blows Off, Thickly Covering the Vicinity With the Hot Stuff. People in the vicinity of Market, Waller and Octavia streets about 12:30 o:clock vesterday were startled by a loud explo- sion, and before they could locate its source they witnessed the phenomenon of a shower of nice, soft, well-cooked bit- umen descending from a cloudless sky. It was not a mere sprinkle of the black, pasty stuff, but a veritable deluge, that covered streets and bulldings for a dis- tance of many feet around. stery. streets named the Union Paving Contract- ing C mpany, which is paving Market street from Valencia to Fourteenth, had placed its apparatus for cooking the bitumen. This consisted of an immense boiler on one truck and an iron cauldron (or kettle as it is termed), into which the raw bitumen is dumped and cooked by means of steam injected from the bofler alongside. The top of the kettle is closed by a big cast iron c r, when the re- ceptacle is full, the cover being fastened down to prevent the escape of steam. The kettle had been refilled just before the noon hour and the cover fastened down and steam turned on, so that it could cook while the men were at dinner. Most of the workmen had gone home for | their meal, but four or five who were in charge of the boiler and kettle remained at the works and were eating their lunch, being seated near the kettle. The steam gradually crept up until the pressure is sald to have registered 350 pounds. Suddenly thery was a faint rumbling, followed by a terrific explosion, and the cover of the kettle went sailing high into the air, together with the bitumen. The kettle was scooped out clean by the es- caping steam. The black mass shot fully 100 feet into the air, and the workmen hardly had time to get on to their feet before it descended upon them. Their coats and hats protected them from being seriously burned, but they spent the re- mainder of the noon hour scraping bitu- | men from their backs. An iron wheelbarrow, loaded with shov- | els, was standing about fifteen feet away, and into that the heavy cover fell with a crash, completely demolishing the imple- ments. The streets and sidewalks were thickly covered with the bitumen, while the nearest buildings were a sight. K The foreman stated that such explo- sions are not infrequent and are due to flaws in the covers, which cannot be de- tected, but sooner or later yield to the great pressure. The broken cover yester- day showed such a flaw, and it is remark- able that it stood the strain as long as it did. The explosion: stopped work for the remainder of the d AROUND THE CORRIDORS J. Weil, a merchant of Sanger, is at the Grand. F. F. Coyne, a mining man of Dillon, Mont., is at the Russ. F. Beringer, an extensive wine grower of St. Helena, {s a guest at the Lick. R. H. Willey, an attorney of Monterey, is here on business and is staying at the Grand. Frank B. Cornue, assistant cashier of the Santa Rosa Bank, is at the Califor- nia, accompanied by his wife. J. P. Snyder, an attorney of San An- dreas, and John A. Mclntire, a Sacra mento mining man, are among the ar- rivals at the Grand. G. W. Huddleston, a prominent busi- ness man of London, England, is making a pleasure trip to this State and is regis- tered at the Palace. E. E. Vincent, a merchant of Madera, G. C. Freeman, a Fresno attorney, and A. Marks, a storekeeper of Covelo, and his family, are guests at the Lick. Assistant Surgeons Charles Norton Berry and Frederic Pearl, U. S. A., and Surgeon Major Hays, U. 8. A., of Bang- kok, Siam, are registered at the Palace. S. W. Pearce, a retired business man of South Australia, Is registered at the Russ with his wife. Mr. Pearce has heen vis- iting in the southern part of the State and intends to locate here permanently. Thomas H. Selvage of Eureka is stay- ing at the Grand. At the meeting of the Grand Council of the Chosen Friends he was elected as a representative to the Supreme Council, which meets at Baltis more next September. Mr. Selvage will probably return to Eureka this week. Baron Leo von Rosenberg Lipinsky, a mining engineer who represents a New York syndicate, is a guest at the Palace. In company witi. R. J. Dyas, a capitalist of St. Louis, he has been on a visit of inspection in Arizona, Colorado and this State, with a view .of making large in- vestments in mining properties. Assemblyman R. S. Raw of Placerville, El Dorado County, is putting in a few days at the Grand in the interests, politi- cally, of his county. It was Mr. Raw, by the way, who made a winning fight against a crowd of speculators who at- tempted during thes late Legislature to legislate his county out of $200,000 in good hard cash. Placerville is about to hold the first municipal election it has held in over twenty-five vears, for the purpose of electing city officers that the town may pay off a legitimate bonded indebtedness against it of $34,500. Arthur Pearse, a mining engineer of London, England, is registered at the Pal- ace. Mr. Pearse has completed arrange- ments to start two expeditions to the southwestern part of Siberia, where he has located some valuable mines. In speaking on the subject last evening, just before catching the Eastern overland, he said: *“The potentialties of Siberia are enormous in a mining way. Placers are the only kind now being worked, but large quartz lodes have been discovered and will shortly be developed. As soon as the economic conditlons of Siberia are improved operations will be undertaken on a gigantic scale. The siberian Rail- road, which has been completed from Moscow to Lake Bical, will tend largely to foster the mining industries and ¥ con- fidently look for splendid results.” —_—— CALIFORNIANS IN WASHINGTON WASHINGTON, April 14—J. H. Meyer of San Franciscd is at the Normandie. C. C. Donovan of Santa Rosa is at the Wellington Hotel, en route to Europe. e CALIFORNIANS IN NEW YORK. NEW YORK, April 14.—William Browne of Ban Francisco is at the Manhattan. W. B. Sink, wife and son of San Fran- cisco are at the Hoffman. he unusual occurrence was not long a | At the intersection of the three | N HEARING WILL BE GIVEN THE (S COMPANIES Fixing of Rates Again Deferred. OPINION BY AN ATTORNEY RIGHT OF THE BOARD TO ACT DENIED. Supervisors Will Give the Monopoly an Opportunity to Show Why Present Rates Shoula Not Be Reduced. The gas companies are to be given an opportunity to show why the present rate of $175 a thousand feet now paid by the city should not be reduced in accordance with the expressed desire of a majority of the members of the Board of Super- visors. In the meantime the board will defer action in the matter of fixing the | rate to be paid for gas during the com- | ing fiscal year. | The Street Lights Committee, of which Supervisor Kalben is chairman, met vesterday morning for the purpose of taking action on the amended resolution referred to it at the last meeting of the Board of Supervisors. The original reso- | lution, of which Supervisor Aigeltinger is the author, provides for the fixing of the rate to be paid for gas at $130 a | thousand feet. To this Supervisor Lack- | mann offered” an amendment fixing the I rate at $135 a thousand feet. 2 | “Attorney Edward Rix, representing the | gas company, was on hand and stated to |the commitfee that the corporation claimed now and had always claimed | that the Board of Supervisors had no le- | gal power to fix the rate to be paid for | gas. He added that if the board assumed | the power and the right to do so its ac tion, presuming that a rate was f the courts uni st given the g at_ would be This, | would not be uph. | an. opportunity | company e W 2 rate. a he said, éd in the case of r Company, where the Spring Valley Wate it was held by the Supreme Court | the water rate fixed by the Board | of Supervisors was vold because the | water company had not been given a full opportunity to show what a fair rate should be. He therefore asked that if a reduction in the gas rates was in con- templation the company be given a hear- ing and a fair opportunity to show what rate should be charged in order that the interests of all parties should be pro- tected. In making this request, he sa { he did not in any way recede from | position taken by his clients that | board had no legal right to fix the r: in any event. : Supervisor Algeltinger want if the gas company would vol cede to a_rate of $150 a thous | Attorney Rix replied that no formal | tion of this kind on the part of the cor- | poration could be taken without the con- | sent of the board of directors. This | would necessitate the calling of a meet- ing of the board of directors, a proceed ing that could not be accomplished within less than three or four day: After some further discu r mittee decided to defer further consid- eration of the matter until next Tues- day morning at 11 o'clock, at which time the representatives of all the .gas com- panies are to be notified to be present for the purpose of showing why the pres- ent rate paid for gas should not be re- duced. HENRY PETERSON MISSING. Left Home Last Wednesday After- noon and No Tidings Have Been Received of Him Since. Henry Peterson, a watchman well known on the city front, has been missing from his home since the 12th of the present month. His wife saw him last at 3 o’clock on the afternoon of that day, and she has been unable to learn any tid- ings of him since that hour. She left with Deputy Coroner Sullivan yvesterday the following description: Age 61 years, 5 feet 8 inches tall, 180 pounds weight, black eyes, gray hair, beard and mus- tache and a scar over the left eve. At the time of his disappearance he wore a brown soft felt hat, black cutaway coat and vest, gray pants and gaiter shoes. He had no money on his person at the time he left home and it is feared that he has met with some accident. — ee——— The Lake Merced Tragedy. Coroner Hill held an inquest yesterday afternoon at 524 Church street on the bodies of Miss Catherine Williams and Miss Clara Woods, who were drowned in Lake Merced last Thursday. Nothing new was elicited by the evidence, and the jury returned a verdict of accidental drowning. — e Soft baby cream, lic 1b. Townsend's. ® e ——————— that the th n the com- Treat your friends to Townsend’s Cali- fornia glace fruits, 50c 1b, in fire-etched boxes or Jap baskets. 627 Market st. * e ,e——— Special information supplied dafly to business houses and public men b& the ont- Press Clipping Bureau (Allen’s), 510 gomery street. Telephone Main 1042. Trees that weave bed clothing are among Ecuador's wonders. A recent de- scription of an:Indian blanket of that country states that it is more than six by five feet in size, is as soft and pliabls as flannel and can be rolled and placed in a shawlstrap without injury, and that it is simply the inner bark from a section of the trunk of the demojagua tree. — e e—— THE CALIFORNIA LIMITED, Sante Fe Route. Three times a week: 3% days to Chicago, 4% days to New York. Handsomest train and most complete service. Full particulars at 628 Mar- ket street. —_—————————— For a tonic for the nervous and dyspeptio nothing equals a little Angostura Bitters. The genuine, Dr. Slegert’s, in port or sherr: e In 1897 one-tenth of the 11,678,000 ounces of gold produced was due to the cyanide rocess. Only within the last ten years as the knowledge been utilized that rold | is soluble in a solution of the cyanide of potassium. Gold-bearing ore and sands of a low average can be profitably worked by this process alone, and the increasing yield of the metal is'in part due to this fact. Baking Powder Made from pure cream of tartar. Safeguards the food against alum., Alym menacers to powders are the greatest oilbzp!uentda_y. ROYAL BAKING POWDER 00., NEW YORK. 4 9 -4