The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 17, 1899, Page 4

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, MONDAY, APRIL 17, 1899. PRIL 17, 1899 JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor. Address All Communications to W. §..LEAI PUBLICATION GFFICE .....Market and Third Sts., S. F. Telephone Main 1868. EDITORIAL ROOMS 217 to 231 Stevenson Street % KE, Manager. DELIVERED BY CARRI CENTS PER WEEK. Single Coples, 5 cents. by Mall, uding cluding Sunday Call) ing Sunday Call), Postage one year. 6 months Terms DAILY CALL ( DAILY CALL ( DAILY CALL tincl all), 3 months. . 150 Y CALL—By 650 Y CALL C 1.80 KLY LL. One Year 1.00 1 post ers are authorized to receive subsoriptions. Sample copfes will be forwarded when requested. OAKLAND OFFICE s 908 Broadway NEW YORK OFFICE Room 188, World Building DAVID ALLEN, Advertising Representative. WASHINGTON (D. C.) OFFICE .....Weliington Hotel C. C. CARLTON, Correspondent. CHICAGO OFFICE ..Marquette Bullding C.GEORGE KROGNESS, Advertising Representative. BRANCH OFFICES—5R7 Montgomery straet, corner Clay, 30 o'clock. 387 Hayes street, open until McAllister street, open untll 9:30 615 Larkin street. open until 9:30 o'clock: Mission street, open until 10 o'clock. 229! Market corner Sixteenth, open untll 9 o'clock. 2518 o'clock ca reet street, open until 9 o'clock. 106 Eleventh pen untll 9 o'clock. 1505 Polk street, open until 9:30 o'clock. NW. corner Twenty-second ang | Kontucky ts. open until 9 o'clock. AMUSEMENTS. streets, Speclalties. tures I als, Wednesday afternoon, day afternoon, April 25. | en, Friday afternoon, | Market street, near Eighth—Bat- Amusements every bay resort. at 10:30 a. m. and 2:30 p. RYTHING ROSY AGAIN. wed in this column a week ago, trials during the first days ed in a better market in s res ancial thun torms, like their | supposed that the reaction res, but to the surprise of | industr selves showed the most | y are again in favor, though speculation | more conservatism, and the mar- [ ailroad als them aracterized b; r basis. fore a be in the ind did not affect general l the midst of the | street was in an uproar and quota- in the business of the | the bank clearings, was 59.7 per | than for the same week in 1898, while this clearings soared up to 95.4 per cent, show- | all sid, the enor Pittsburg shows the greatest | s going merrily on. re —116.5 per cer ficating that the iron and | stee ies are as lively as ever. The best report of | , however, i n wool. This staple is appar- | its 1 from nds in the three mar- 385,000 pounds for the same week in | begun to purchase ile large sales have been made for re-export, | y Australian grades on English account. The New York dry goods market is reported quieter on pot, though large fall orders are being received. and shoes are firm and in good demand at vance made some time ago. The lumber mar- et continues firm and active. The cotton industry is d in satisfactory condition, the demand being Railway earnings show no decrease, and, in wherever we look, we find a greater expansion in business than has ever before been experi- s country. The failures for the week were 4 for the corresponding week in 1898. easier, and this in the ,000,000 paid into syndicates in four woolen mills have neral ed in t ket is decidedly Evidently we are as flush of cash as ever. stringency noticeable is in call loans. one adverse feature to the situation, favorable appearance of the wheat 1s out to have been considerably dam- bruary freeze, which killed so many f ughout the Eastern, Western and Southern States. For some time rumors to this ef- fect have been persistent, but the sanguine American temperament is prone to look askance at advetse re- ports of anything, and it needed the confirmation of the Government report to satisfy the doubting hases of the wheat trade. Under this confirma- y report of the Government the market hardened, though the appreciation was slight and was followed by a reaction. The local wheat market, as far as actual grain on the spot was concerned, did not respond to the East- ern advance, though futures improved. The outlook for the crop in California is excellent, though some sections will need a little more rain to properly fill out the heads. With no more rain a fine hay crop is There is o and that is the | ich tu I crop, ed by the 1it trees th et too carly to definitely estimate the coming rop of the State, but it will hardly be as enor- as enthusiasts predicted a month ago. Peaches promise the best at the moment, and they will be neceded, as the Eastern crop was destroyed by the ¥ebruary freeze. More or less drop is reported in the other kinds, owing to the strain on the trees last year when the ground was dry. All fruits blossomed this spring, but the fruit failed to set as freely as expected. With the exception of apricots, how- will probably be enough fruit to go around, though prices may be somewhat higher than usual, licavi cver, there eral trade is still good, and no complaints are in any quarter. We are remarkably free from failures, and the merchants report collections fully up to the average at this time of the year. Leniency in credits is marked, whereas at this time last year there was an equally pronounced tendency to keep them pretty closely pared. But there is a good deal of dif- ference between the prospects now and at this time last year. The fact that a Corrigan horse won a Corrigan Vaudeville every l!lemoon, G THE RESULT OF THE DINNERS: HAT was revealed by indirection and some- W what indistinctly by the Jefferson banquets at Milwaukee and at the _Metropolitan Opera House in New York, has been made clear by the “dollar dinner” at the Grand, Central Palace .in the latter city on Saturday evening. Colonel Bryan re- mains the leader of the Democratic party. There may be plots against him among the Eastern bosses who despair of carrying their States for free silver, but the rank and file of Democracy is with him, and his hold upon the discontented classes is apparently as strong to-day as it was in 1896. The situation is not easy to understand. Bryanism was defeated by an overwhelming majority at the polls in 1806 and again in the Congressional elections of 1808. Under that banner Democracy has met nothing but disaster, and is now weaker and more demoralized than ever before in the history of the country. Western States that were for free silver in 'g6 gave Republican majorities last year, and even in the South the tone of the more influential papers has been adverse to a continuance of the Chicago policy. Yet in the face of all these evidences of public re- pudiation, when the Democratic leaders of the West and of the East meet to honor the memory‘of the founder of their party, Bryan is the only man among them who is anywhere greeted as a national leader. It is probable Bryan's hold on the rank and file of his party is due mainly to the courage with which he stands by his convictions and his uncompromising | adherence to the Chicago platform. Force of char- | acter, decision and resolution hardly ever fail to win | when combated only by weakness, doubt and hesita- ticn. The Democratic masses must have a leader and |a party cry. The conservative dignitaries furnish neither. Bryan comes forward, takes the leader’s place and formulates a policy. Is it any wonder the masses follow him, leaving the timid conservatives | chattering in the rear? As a net result of the expressions ‘of Democratic sentiment at the banquets we may conclude that un- less the unexpected happens the campaign of next vear will be on the part of the Democrats an attempt to array the West and the South against the East, | the poor against the rich, the discontented against the prosperous and the lawless against the law. The de- mand for free silver is but a part of the cry that the people are being crushed by the money power, that liberty is being stified by monopoly, and that pros- perity and wealth are synonymous with dishonesty | and corruption. Such is the sum of the expressions of the ten- dollar banquet at the Metropolitan Opera House as well as of the dollar dinner at the Grand Central Palace. Colonel Bryan has captured New York and reassérted his supremacy in his party. When at the latter feast -John Clark Ridpath spoke of Thomas Jefferson as “the most in- tellectual Democrat that ever lived,” a hundred voices shouted, “No, no; Bryan, Bryan.” There is a fanatic zeal in the crusade of the silverites which must run its course, and fortunately the stability of American common-sense is sufficient to prevent it from being any serious danger to the republic. It has been beaten twice, and in 1900, like the fanatic dervishes at Omdurman, will be wiped off the earth. THE SAMOAN COMMISSION. ERMANY has won what may be called the out with the Samoan Islands as stakes. She de- manded that the commission representing the three powers should have no authority to act unless unani- United States and Great Britain. first trick in the game of diplomacy to be played | | | | | | | | walking the streets. We make every one get into his house by 7 p. m., and we only tell a man once. If he refuses we shoot him. We killed over 300 men the first night. They tried to set the town on fire. If they fire a shot from a house we burn the house down and every house near it and shoot the natives, so they are pretty quiet in town now.” This is the matter-of-fact report of a young Ameri- can citizen, written in apparently stolid unconscious- ness that to kill a man for once refusing to retire to his own house or to commit arson and homicide by the wholesale as a punishment for individual acts is in any way inconsistent with the principles of his Government or the proprieties of American civiliza- tion. If an army were to be trained abroad to destroy our liberties at home, no more effective system could be adopted. The quietude of the grave is as com- plete in San Francisco as in the capital of the island of Luzon. 3 Samson revenged himself upon the Philistines by tying 300 foxes tail to tail, with firebrands between them, and then turning them loose. If the 300 Fili- pinos had been tied back to back, with lighted tapers between them and then driven through the streets of Manila, the butchery would have been equally satis- factory, their sufferings more agonizing and the destruction of property more ruinous. The Apaches used to mutilate our citizens in Arizona and in New Mexico. If we have adopted them as models we ought to perfect our imitations, and, with our superior intelligence, we could soon invent and em- ploy original forms of refined cruelty. When the Civil War was raging, President Lincoln, | under instructions from Congress, had Washington's farewell address read at every military post and at the head of every regiment in the country. After the nightly carnival of blood and the manifestations of American despotism which this young . corporal de- scribes, the patriotic literature of his native land would be hardly tolerated and much less appreciated. The Call hopes that the attention of the adminis- tration may be attracted by these reports from the Philippines, which are becoming more and more numerous, and that executive authority and drum- head courts-martial may relieve the situation that is fast exceeding possible toleration and injuring the United States in the estimation of Christendom. SOME MASSACHUSETTS PRACTICES. o OME time ago Chicago, stung to the quick by the exposure of the embalmed beef business, retorted that Boston is as bad as herself, inasmuch as it has been the custom of the Bos—‘; tonians to pack immature herring in dainty cans and sell them under the enticing label, “brook trout.” It is now made known that Boston has another pretty practice in the food business by means of which some of her thrifty citizens hoped to reap a rich reward, but didn’t. According to the story as told by the Boston Her- ald the packers of codfish discovered some time ago that if instead of the old method of preserving the fish by dry salting they would resort to wet salting the process of curing would be quicker and cheaper, and, moreover, to each fish there would be added a con- siderable weight of water, which of course would be sold at fish prices and add largely to the profits. The Herald says the scientific method was first used by the fish men of Gloucester and that the Boston dealers were compelled to adopt it by force of com- petition. The results have not been wholly satisfactory. The wet salted codfish can be worked off upon consumers in temperate climates, but it does not stand the test of the tropics. Consequently when it was sent to the 10us expansion of American trade | mous, and the demand has been conceded by the | West Indies it palled upon the taste of the public. They have refused to consume it, and the Herald | As the British Government for some time opposed | notes that “the dealers in those islands and in other the requirement for unanimity, the concession of the point constitutes what is noted as the German victory, ing the concession as a surrender of British interests. not much affected one way or the other. It is fortunate the United States were in a position and in a mood to act impartially on the issue. Ger- many certainly was fully justified in demanding unan- imity, for it is well known the Americans and the British in the Samoan Islands have long since pooled their interests and have for years been acting almost as a unit. For the Germans to have entered into a council of three and permitted a majority to rule on all issues would under such circumstances have been virtually giving up the game. It is very sure at the | the same side on almost every point that comes up, but for the unanimity rule. objection to the German plan. It may lead to the | been appointed. Either power under the unanimity | rule can block the game, and the settlement of the America’s prompt consent to the Berlin proposi- tion, however, left Salisbury in a position it was diplomatically impossible to maintain. Since the United States and Germany, a majority of the parties to the controversy, agreed upon the plan, he couid not oppose them without opposing his own proposal that the majority should rule. There was nothing to do but to give in, and it is an evidence of good sense on his part that he made the concession promptly. Thus far everything has gone well enough with the commission, but it remains to be seen on how many points they can unanimously agree. This Samoan business is one of the comic operas in which you never know what is going to happen next. Oment of them correspond as imperfectly as our theories and our practices at home. Concilia- tion was the announced leaven of President McKin- ley’s policy, and our method of conciliating them is by sending them on the rifle route to the home of eternal peace. Barbarities have been described in letters from soldiers that ought to fill the American heart with indignation. Accounts of massacres from au- thentic sources have depicted scenes that equal in | ferocity any incidents in Persian or Roman history, in the Spanish invasion of the Netherlands or in the Indian wars of the cighteenth and nineteenth cen- turies. Except to the blatant expansionists the attempt to treat the Filipinos as rebels or insurgents and their native land as a purchase from Spain is revolting. But wholesale murder and cruelty degrade us to the level of savages. In The Call of Saturday a revelation was made which, if not derived from a reliable source, would have been incredible. A corporal, we regret to say among the California Volunteers, having been specially commended for his bravery, in the unre- strained freedom of a private letter writes from MILITARY CONCILIATION. UR invitations to the Filipinos and our treat- derby should not occasion any surprise. One has only to remember that Corrigan—but what’s the use? Manila as follows: “We sleep all day here, as we do duty all night start that Great Britain and America will vote on: | and the Germans would be at a serious disadvantage | | There is, however, considerable force in the British | defeat of the object for which the commission has | | Samoan disturbances may be indefinitely poslponed,i | adjacent tropical countries do not care to purchase | cocdfish cured by the wet salt process, but prefer to ng sleep. Indeed, sales | and the political opponents of the Salisbury adminis- [ buy dry salted Canadian codfish even at a higher | ¥ years at this season, those | tration are making party capital out of it by denounc- | price.” The pleasant practice of selling salt water for cod- The Germans, on the other hand, are well pleased | fish having thus proven to be unprofitable, the Herald with the firmness of their Government, while we are | condemns it, but we note that in the same issue of the paper it speaks in some commendation of an en- terprising citizen who has been solving the sparrow problem by a practice which threatens to ruin the trade in reed birds. Of that up-to-date gentleman, it is said he has felt as much as any one the annoyance of the English sparrow, but has had no faith in the efficacy of the methods generally used in New 'England to get rid of the nuisance. His experience taught him that the sparrows can build nests faster than man can destroy them. His method of procedure is to saturate food with intoxicating liquor and to feed the birds with it thus saturated. Then the sparrows become intoxi- cated and turn up their toes on the ground, where his gardener picks them up and disposes of them to the marketmen as reed birds, to be served on toast. Such practices as selling green herring for brook trout, salt water for codfish and whisky-soaked spar- rows for luscious reed birds are in the highest degree reprefiensible. Nevertheless, they do not justify Chicago in defending the embalmed beef business. and her Mrs. Broome hirec man of Santa Barbara gave battle to fourteen men. After a sharp skirmish the lady was arrested. She says she is a British subject and will carry the case into the na- tional courts. This seems particularly unkind when Uncle Sam and Johnny Bull are shaking hands of peace across the seas. The scheme of establishing order in the Philippines and then trading them to Great Britain for her islands in the West Indies continues to engage attention in the Fast, but the cost to us of such a trade seems to be overlooked. It would be cheaper to turn the Fili- pinos loose and buy the West Indies for coin. The announcement that Speaker Reed is about to start for Europe should be hailed with delight by the delegates to that other Czar's peace congress. If they can only induce the man from Maine to stop off at The Hague they may learn a few valuable pointers on the gentle art of getting a quorum. It is worth noting that, despite all the talk about a new leader for the Democratic party, no person was named for that office by the speakers at the Jeffer- son banquets except Bryan. The Gorman, Olney and Miles booms were not taken out of the re- frigerators at any stage of the feast. It is not unlikely that George Crocker has awak- ened to a vivid realization of the suggestion that he who sups with the devil must have a very long spoon. C. P. Huntington is a good entertainer, but we have his own assurance that he seldom pays for the feast. Aguinaldo must be in desperate straits when he finds‘it necessary to kill off his rivals. The mere fact that he has any is sufficient to show that his grip on the Filipinos is loosening and that the end of native opposition is near. 3 And now it is announced that a cousin of the Vice- reine .of India is going on the stage. She thinks she has discovered a demand for Leiter comedy. The first Cali{ornia quartz mine is in lit- igation in the United States Circuit Court here, and the historical assoclations, the novelty and importance of the legal issues involved, the prominence of the parties and the attendant circumstances that pro- vide variety make the case a notable one and the story one of exceptional interest, though public attention has not before been drawn to it. This mine is the Gold Hill mine, close to Grass Valley, and the: company owning it is defendant in the case of the Peabody Gold Mining Company vs. the Gold Hill Mining Company. The suit seeks to dis- possess the Gold hill company of a large part of its patented eround, and of veins therein of which the defendant has had undisputed possession for over a genera- tion, on the ground that the patent is in part illegal and null and void. The Gold Hill mine is mainly owned by E. W. Hopkins, the president of that com- pany, and the adjoining Peabody mine is controlled by Baron von Schroeder, so | that the legal war is practically between | these two millionaires. The real motive and re; n of the suit is not in any inclin- ation on the part of Baron von Schroeder to “jump” some of a neighbor's ground, as has nominally been done, but in a sus- picion on the part of the. Peabody people that the deeper Go.d Hill workings are getting into their subterranean territory, and in a wish to protect their interests below as they think they see them. The litigation began last fall and thereupon | the Gold Hill people properly ani: work | and allowed the mine to fill .to the top | with water so that no explorations could figure in the case. ¢ Che initlal phase of the case, involving an injunction against the defendant, was recently argued and submitted by A. H. Ricketts for the complainant and by E. W. McGraw for _the respondent. The de- cision of Judge Morrow on the important legal points presented will take an im- | portant place in mining Jjurisprudence. One treads dangerous ground in sur- | veying the history of the beginning of jqumnz mining in California. Much con- | flict of authority can be quickly found. Gold-bearing quartz was found before fame rushed to Gold Mountain, as placer gold w found before Marshall saw his nugget, but it was the Gold Mountain dis- | covery that started the quartz mining ex- citement, and it is generally taken as the beginning. The Gold Hill mine is cer- tainly the oldest one in California, and its re'fuumon as the first one is justified. 'his history of the very beginning sticks out of the case at bar in a charm- incompleteness, and the ‘ca turns largely on this early history, as so many suits invoiving millions hayve turned in the acts and rude methods of careless prospectors long before. ; It is undisputably shown that the dis- | covery was made by Cracklin on Decem- | ber 30, 1s50. At that time miners were | working in placer diggings in the region | about what is now Grass Valley, close to the present limits of which town Gold Mountain stands. A party of miners were camping in this hill, and Cracklin was one of them. In his splendid report on “the gold-bear- ing quartz veins of the Grass Valley and Nevada City mining districts,” published recently by the United States Geological Survey, Waldemar Lindgren says that the first find of gold-bearing quartz was made in Gold Hill by a German in September, 1850. He sold the plece for §, and it vielded $100. Other flelds of float attracted little attention, but in November, 180, a rich shoot of ore was struck by miders digging a hole for a cabin chimney. Great excitement followed, and locations were made. He states that the rock was first | crushed in mortars with a strong pole, and that the Huff Company took out | $20,000 that way that winter. The first mill, a rude and nearly useless one, was | put 'up in January, 1851, and soon after a | Better eight-stamp. mill was ereeted and | crushed rock for $50 a ton, the miners day. This eminent geolo- fell into error when he es- cause of it ® he affidavits of Thomas Cracklin and | others, filed.In the suit, show that Crack- lin's dlscovery was made on December 20, | 1850. The circumstances are not related | Whatever rich float had been picked up before, this was “the discovery.” A local | excitement was on, probably within an hour. Whether the ledge in place or its | broken top was found that day is not | shown. The rock, however, was very rich. ed down the hill, partly disintegrated, and | made the ground below rich in gold, espe- { clally three or four feet below the surface. The detalls of what was said and done on the hill that day would make interest- ing reading and would doubtless he worthy material for Bret Harte. It is known, however, that before that day ended the miners there exhibited their characteristic energy, capacity for self- government and respect for justice and order by meeting, organizing a mining district and adopting laws for its govern: ment. These laws are of record in Ne- vada County and a certified copy is on ex- hibit in the case that drags them forth. They are the laws of the first quartz min- ing district in America and have never been published in any permanent record. They are brief, sensible and may be said to be picturesque and they do not seem to require Philadelphia lawyers. The fol- lowlnf are some of the sections: N" 185011 Mountains laws, passed December “Article One. These diggings shall be called Gold Mountain and certificates of claims shall be headed accordingly. “‘Second. Thirty by forty feet shall con- stitute a full claim. “Fifth. All persons can hold one claim hg; occupancy and any number by pur- chase. “Sixth. When a claim has been proper- ly staked, numbered and recorded it can be held without tools being left upon it or any work being done until the first day of April, 1851, without interruption by the owner. “Tenth. All difficulties and suits arising out of claims, trespasses, etc., shall be tried before the Recorder, with two other miners, one to be chosen by each party. An appeal, however, may be taken to the Justice of the Peace. ‘‘Eleventh. Any person who takes away or uses tools of another without Rermlsshm of the owner shall forfeit all is rights upon the mountain. If he has no interests then he shall be made to pay twice the original value. “Twelfth. ng person who throws dirt or rock upon the claim of another shall be made to remove it or forfeft their right of claims on the mountain.” These laws of the Gold Mountain dis- trict are worthy of a prominent place among the hundreds of mining codes voluntarily adopted by a people dom- inated by Anglo-S8axon nature and ideas at a time when it was wholly a law ‘unto itself and a sufficlent one. It was the mass of such laws, 80 molded, that, crystallized, became the first Federal mining law of 1866 and again the present law of 1872 and a thing unique in the world's legislative history. s Tt will be observed that these first laws of a quartz mining district show no cog- nizarice of ‘“quartz” conditions, and this fact becomes of great importance in the sult at issue. Those miners who figured in that historic “excitement” and “rush” of December 30, 1850, knew nothing about quartz veins. They proceeded as placer miners and substantially enacted the reg- ulations which placer mining had pro- duced elsewhere and with which a few weeks or months of experience had made them familiar. There was no thought of a ‘“discovery of a lode,” and they might have thrown into the creek one who spoke the s(mnse phrases “ex- tralateral rights” and “dips, spurs ana angles.” Any man could strike out any- where in Gold Mountain but one claim 30 by 40 feet, and the ledge had no legal recognition. Any claim, ledge or not, must be marked with a stake at each corner and one in the center bearing its consecutive number, each stake driven two feet into the ground. Claims were recorded and transferred by number only. The record, according to Thomas Cracklin’s aflidavit, was a common pock- étbook, which was filed in a sult and burned with other county records in 185. Thomas Cracklin's claim was No, 1. As in any placer claim the owner's rights were confined by the vertically projected boundaries of his claim and in this firet quartz mining district the idea of fo]- Winin the end_boundaiest of ERt Jend oundaries of Bad not been conceived, = Or ‘h¢ claim To understand the merits Sina, R B others, e gold on th. was all below the vein. Hence, -?nSL"?hE’,’e‘ :;;lzr r::lkxx;firn;'takfed ml:’t their claims the of each upper | Bttty he upper odge ot the vans of the suit one observed th . very locater wanted every inch %x"fi’c'il |lng way, vet in a disappointing way, be- | MILLIONAIRES FIGHT OVER THE BIRTH OF QUARTZ MINING round he could get, and the hill above e 2 So, along the vein | the vein went begging. there was a row of 30 by 40 claims hang- ing to the upper wall and the ground | down hill Mr. Cracklin that the surface all taken up. affidavit naturally shows ground was soon worked out, and that it was later di: costly shafts, tunnels, hoisting K etc., were needed to work the ledge it- self, As by a law of nature the early buying up and consolidation of these 30 by 40 “claims began. The Gold Hill Quartz Mining Company began this early in 1851, Long prior to 1861 534 of these claims had | been consolidated and they now compose the very irregularly shaped territory cov- ered by the assailed wold Hill patent. he Gold Hill mine, thus composed of inciuding a ledge, was worked steadily, and in 1877 Rossiter W. Raymond reported in the first Government mining report that it had yielded $3,000,000. At about this time the mine passed to the present company, and new works were in- stalled. Until last fall it continued pro- ducing and had reached the depth of 1400 feet, with extensive lateral workings. In 1553°a patent for the ground covered by the 534 original claims was acquired with- out adve roceedings. % Two yvears or so 4go a vein was discov- ered along the lower portion of this pat- ented ground, but more than 300 feet from the original vein. The Gold Hill company took about 35000 out of it in a short time. This late discovery of new riches on the oldest quartz claim in Californi. may or may not be singular. Then another vein was found on this ground outside of the 300-foot limit. The Peabody mine was then an old one, adjoining the Goud Hill, operating at several hundred feet depth, and the doubts anu issues suggested early in this story arose. At tne benest of the Peabody company tne newly found vein in the Gold Hill territory was duly located last September by a man who promptly sold to the Peavody company. Tn th Suum_Quique claim, which covers the vein but keeps out of the 300-foot lLimit. Another claim was similariy located on Gold Hill ground and called the Croesus. Then Baron von Schroeder promptly went to court and asked that the Goud Hill company be ordered away from his min- ing claims. That is the Issue before the court. A. H. Ricketts, for the Peabody Com- pany, pleads that although the Gold Hill people could hold their claims without patent, if they elected to secure a patent they came under exi: as the law forbids a lateral possession of more than 300 feet the Interior Depart- ment was in error and the patent is null and void in excess of that distance, Hence, the vein lying beyond that di tance is open to location, and thelr rights to all the ground beyond 300 feet from the vein cease. Mr. McGraw argues that the patent, having been granted, cannot be attacked. He also argues that the Gold Hill Company would have been entitled to 534 separate but that it had a right to app! did, solidated patent. Mr. Ricketts goes into history, etc., in an Interesting way, and argues ' that those clalms were placer claims, and says in his submitted argu- ment: “This is perhaps the first time in the | annals of mining jurisprudence where a patent for a quartz lode location has been | attempted to_be bolstered up by local laws_which did not recognize discovery and develpoment as essential to a lode lo- cation, and which made surface ground, and not the lode, the principal thing.” The legal question as to whether the patent is void as to the excess over feet is thus a_grave one. The Peabody Company itself has deeded the surface rights of its own patented ground to va- rious people for suburban uses, and the Gold Hill Company may have done the same, as far as is known. Much other ground c heen similarly sold. What becomes of the title if it is more than 300 feet from the vein? Among other legal questions before Judge Morrow is the objection that the | Federal Court has no jurisdiction of the case. Mr. Ricketts urges that any case invoiving ‘a_construction of the Federal mining statute may be brought in a Fed- eral Court, and under the circumstances his contention, if ubstantiated, would practically bring every mining case with- {n that jurisdiction. The case and the de- cislon will have a great bearing on this point in_mining jurisprudence every- where. Other important legal points add to_the interest of the case. The circumstances of the beginning of | quartz mining in California are thus in- volved in a struggle between milllonaires at this late day. The case may drag out some interesting evidence, but much will remain untold. An exact knowledge of that good-for-little first mill in Gold Mountain would be appreciated. One who would patiently and conscientiously se- cure or collect first few weeks or months would do a valuable serv The story seems to be now nebulous. J. O. DENNY. AROUND THE CORRIDORS Dr. H. L. Pace of Tulare is at the Pal- Dr. W. B. Pinco and wife are at the Attorney C. R. Tillson of Modesto is at the Lick. J. D. Ludwig, a mining man of Mari- posa, at the Grand. George Meyers, a cigar merchant of Fresno, is at the Lick. Henry Ulke of the United States revenue cutter Bear is at the California. T. G. Lawton and A. McCartney, of the Bear, are guests at the Occldental. C. M. Hartley, the well-known fruit- grower of Vacaville, is at the Grand. L. McDonald, the mining man from Paso Robles, and wife are at the Lick. Fernando Gonzalez and Jose de Monte- sima of Mexico City are at the Palace. W. J. Tinnin, ex-Surveyor of the Port, arrived from Fresno yesterday and is at the Grand. ¥ H. C. Smith, the mining man, has just returned from Mexico and is staying at the Palace. George Roos of the firm of Roos Bros. of this city has returned after a three- months’ absence in New York and Europe. NEWS OF FOREIGN NAVIES. The two private shipyards at Genoa are quite busy with naval work reconstruct- ing and transforming foreign ships of war, having in hand two Turkish fronclads, the Argentine armored cruiser Garibaldl, Scilla, an Italian wooden gunboat; Her- tha, an old wooden corvette of the Ger- man navy and the Russian corvette Donetz. There are 106 chaplains of the Church of England attached to the service afloat in the British navy, besides two Roman Catholic chaplains at Portsmouth and Devenport, who are classed as regular officers. In addition «there are three Church of England, eighteen Roman Catholic, seven Wesleyan and four Pres- byterian clergymen in the navy who re- celve a fixed annual allowance, but are not designated chaplains. Abdul Hamid, Sultan of Turkey, pays out of his own pocket for the remodeling of the ironclads Mesovdich and Tewfik at the yard of Ansaldo, Genoa. The ex- pense will aggregate several hundred thousand dollars and the probabilities are that he will be reimbursed in the near future by the usual customary popular subscriptions, voluntary or otherwise, col- lected from Armenians and other sub- Jects. The alterations to the Italian battle- ship Dandola have been completed. - Her four 105-ton guns have been removed and four ten-inch of only twenty-nine tons weight substituted, and the remainder of the battery now consists of seven six-inch and five 4.7-inch rifles, all quick-firers, The single mast has also been removed and two military masts with fighting tops have been put in. The new battery is a vast improvement upon the old, for al- though the penetration of the discarded 105-ton guns was claimed to be about thirty-four inches of wrought iron and that of the ten-inch gun is only about nineteen inches of wrought iron, the former gun could only discharge one shot vered that | works, | ing laws, and that | for one con- | red by mining patents has | information about those | for every ten minutes, while the smalier 3 ——— can deliver one shot per minute, %‘)’12 quick-firing six-inch and 47 inch in- crease the battery efficiency at least three times over that of the same caliber guns of the old breceh-loading type. The Coroner’s jury in the case of the boiler explasion on the British cruiser Terrible found that the death o. the fire- man was due to an accident, and that the officers were in no way to be blamed for the mishap, but they recommended the to discontinue the use of weld- | ed tubes. It appears that the Terribie | ana Powerful are the only ships in the 3ritish navy fitted with .the Belleville boiler having welded tubes. They are a little cheaper than solid drawn tubes, h\}r_ they are likely to be discarded since Qns experience of a two-weeks’ cruise, during which five tubes burst, by which one man was killed and five were injured. M. Lockroy, Minister of Marine of France, was an actor of considerable abil- ity in his younger days. He was a son-in- law of Victor Hugo, and left the stage to devote exclusive attention to politics. administration of naval affairs has evi- | dently been appreciated, for he has pre- | viously held office as Minister of Marine, and he has introduced and carried into effect many measures of reform in the | navy. Of late, however, he has acquired a hobby, that of submarine boats, which subordinates all other affairs, and is likely to make his future administration less successful than it woula be if he had not become the victim of one solitary idea, | which other naval experts believe to be | impracticable. | authorities or- and The British admiralty has placed | ders with the Thames Iron Works | Ship-building Company (Limited) of | Blackwall for the construction of two first class battleships of 14,000 tons dis= placement, at a cost exceeding 1,000,000 pounds sterling. The directors of the works ‘have made arrangem for tak- ing over the famous engineering works of. Messrs. John Penn & Sons (Limited), at Greenwich and Deptford, and will un- dertake the manufacture of the engines of 18,000 horsepower required for these vessels. This contract is the largest ever entrusted by the admiralty to a singla firm, and together with the two battle- ships, the Albion for the British navy "and the Shikishima for the Imperial Jap- anese navy of 13,000 tons and 15000 tons isplacement, respectively, now building, create a battleship record for the River Thames and a notable triumph for tha eight-hour day. 2 A French semi-officlal publication, some- thing like Brassey’s Naval Annual, and entitled “Memolres de I'Officer de la Ma- rine,” gives a tabulated list of the efli- cient war vessels in the seven principal | navies. No vessel launched twenty years ago is included in the list nor are any of the ships in course of construction con- sidered. | | | | | | | COUNTRIES. Germany Italy Japan Russia . United States.. The totals foot up to 351 for England; France, 210; Germany, 168; Italy, 133; Japan, 44; and United States, The ac- curacy of the list is rather doubtful, for the United" States has six coast-guard ships, monitors, which are fairly entitled to be classified as efficient. ANSWERS TO CORRESPGNDENTS. MORE BUOYANT—W., Philo, Cal. Hy- drogen being fourteen times lighter than atmospheric air, is the more buoyant. TWO DATES—W. B., Golden Gate, Cal. The 30th of January, 1866, fell on a Tues- day and the 21st of January on a Tuesday algo. RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE-T., San Jose, Cal. The next examination in the Railway Mall Service Department will be | held on the Tth of April next. CHINESE-JAPANESE WAR-—Constant Reader, City. The Chinese-Japanese war | was terminated on the 17th of April, 189, by the signing on that day of a treaty of peace. A DESERTER—J. C. B, City. A man who has deserted from the army or the | navy of the United States is always a deserter unless he was pardoned by the President. @ DEEDING PROPERTY—-M. H., Tib- uron, Cal. A deed to property where the consideration is “love and affection is of equal force and effect as one “for a valuable consideration.” | Reader, City. What was known as Cali- fornia’s Golden Jubilee, that is the fiftieth anniversary of the discovery of gold in California, was celebrated in San Fran- csico on the 24th of January, 1S8. Cal. glace frult 50c per ™ at Townsend's.” —— Specfal informatifon suppled cafly to business houses and public men by th Press Clipping Bureau (Allen's).510 Mon: gomery street. Telephone Main 1042. * —_——————— The first lifeboat was launched in 1780. In France postage stamps are sold at all the cigar shops. THE CALIFORNIA L1MITED, Sante Fe Route. Three times a week; 3% days to Chicago, 44 days to New York. Handsomest train and most complete service. Full particulars at 628 Mar- ket street. —ee————— “Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup” Has been used for fitty years by millions of mothers for thelr children while Teething with perfect success. It soothes the child, softens the gums, allays Pain, cures Wind Collc, reg- ulates the Bowels and is the best remedy for Diarrhoeas, whether aflsing from teething or other causes. For sale by Druggists In every part of the world. Be sure and ask for Mrs, Winslow's Soothing Syrup. 25c a bottle. e HOTEL DEL CORONADO—Take advantage of the round-trip tickets. Now only $80 by steamship, including fifteen days' board at hotel; longer stay, $250 per day. Apply at 4 New Montgomery street, San Francisco. —_———————— There are 2,000,000 ’founds of manufac- tured_tobacco in bond at any one time in the United Kingdom. ADVERTISEMENTS. Scott’s Emulsion of Cod- liver Oil with Hypophos- phites is pure and palatable. For years it has been used for coughs and colds, for con- sumption, for those whose blood is thin or colorless, whose systems are emaciated or run down. . For children it means health and strength, stronger bones and teeth, and food for the growing mind. ‘Baby gains in weight and thrives when Scott’s Emul- sion is added to its milk. SCOTT'E BT, e vort