The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 11, 1900, Page 1

The VOLUME LXXXVII—N 0. 42. Call SAN FRANCISCO, THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 1900. PRICE FIVE CENTS. RUSSIA’S MOVEMENTS IN THE DIRECTION OF PERSIA Taking Advantage ofr the War in Seuth Africa to Strengthen Armaments and Push Forward on the Frontier With a View of Ultimate Annexation. GERMANY, OF COURSE, ACQUIESCES IN THE SCHEME LONDON, Jan. 11.—The Calcutta correspondent of the Daily Mail says: ‘“While the official statement that no alarm is felt concerning Aighanistan is quite true I have good recason to believe the Indian Government has received d quicting information regarding Russian movements in the direction of Persia. Russia is taking advantage of the Transvaal trouble to strengthen her armaments and push forward her outposts along the Per- sian fronticr with a view to ultimate annexation, a design in which Germany would probably acquicsce in con- sideration of réceiving railway concessions.” ROBERTS AND ™ (ITCHENER IN SOUTH AFRICA Now There Is a Promise of a| Lively Shake-Up Among| the Many Brfish Gen-| als, Methuen Being One B of the First o Be Re-| lieved, | campaign and ments | con- | it is cer be strategy the neither at once. saster to do not im- We [§ V“.\' The er o retire e been led a com- a third was e same Magers- Slagers- | great | the gener under him in neral Buller might, if his tions had been complete, tacked on Ladysmith was assailed, or llowing Sunday, with- any ground for the ggestion that he wished to ff a coup before the ar- Saturday, {. " Was Heavy, but Is LONDON, Jan. s at La 11.—The War Office ysmith from General Buller: led and fifteen wounded and atives here assert that . ng the Free Staters, who were ngerous places.” RSO O 28O intended to prepare the British public CUOWOLCIN IR ORONONS SR SOBOR e OROPIORORIONE DBIORGOORONC WORNORC CURIOUS DISPATCH COMES FROM BULLER It Alleges That the Boer Loss at Ladysmith urious dispatch is all the War Office has issued to-night. ne slightest mention of the position or the doings of the British forces. ¥ be interpreted to mean that Ladysmith is safe, but it is more likely THRILLING COUNTERCHARGE. The Gordon Highlanders Repelling the Boer Assault on Wagon Hill, Ladysmith, January 8. | greements with the officers un- | der him. It is known that General Wau- | | chope protested against the fatal ;nif\'ht march, but without avail, i rival of the new chief, but he could fought yesterday or not that imputation. A report was current in the|strategic move. city yesterday that General Hec-| tor Macdonald, when he arrives, |/ men on the defensive or watch- will take over the command of ing for an opening. There is the Modder River column, re-!certainly plenty of rank in evi- lieving General Methuen, who,|dence in South Africa. it is said, has had Probably Intended to Prepare the British Public for a Terrible Casualty List. announces that the list of British cas- st Saturday has not yet been received. e following dispatch, dated at Frere Camp, January 10, noon, has been A Transvaal telegram gives the enemy’s lose at Ladysmith on Baturday this after, as is admitted, they had en- ing fire from six masked batteries and had been defeated at the Boer loss in one commando lled and wagon loads of wounded. The heaviest loss is said to forced by the Transvgalers into the It ‘makes for a terrible list of casualties. commander-in- | and it is said .that the colonel of have | one of the battalions Monday | back to Cape Town because he without leaving himself open to|and General Methuen disagreed SRR DRONGRONOQ are In addi- serious disa- tion to the field marshal there two full generals, four ] % % | was sent |as to the advisability of a certain Lord Roberts finds 120,000 lieutenant generals and twelve or | fourteen major generals. There | is an uneasy suspicion that when | the Ladysmith casualties are an- nounced they will be dishearten- ing and will partly destroy the patriotic glow produced by Gen- eral White’s “victory.” The list of victims of disease issued by the War Office gives twenty-two deaths from en- teric fever and dysentery in | Ladysmith in four days, reveal- ing the fact that the besieged lare existing among bad sanitary conditions. thing like 120,000 troops in South Africa. With this huge army distributed over the coun- try we are still powerless to re- lieve three garrisons from invest- ment. We have still to see large portions of both colonies in the hands of the enemy. We have driven the invaders back at no single point. We are actually further from the hostile frontiers than we were on the day that the ultimatum was delivered. The work which Ministers believed could be effectually performed with 25,000 men has not been done—has not even been be- gun—by four or five times that number. Can any one fail to ad- mit that this is_ evidence of a grave miscalculation of forces and facts?” The Times in an editorial criti- cizing at great length the Gov- ernment’s conduct of the war. alludes to the “stupid and per- verse mistakes” that have been made and demands that the “practice of the non-revelation of facts” be abandoned. It in- sists strongly upon knowing “the truth and the whole truth about the situation,’ and finds fault with Mr. Balfour’s defense piecemeal. The Standard summarizes the & | general situation thus: l “Well, the campaign has last- ed three months, We have some- FREE STATERS PUT IN THE FRONT RANK LONDON, Jan. 11.—The Standard has recelved the following, dated January 9, | from its special correspondent at Frere | Camp: | I hear on good authority that Presi- | dent Kruger sent word to the Boer head- | quarters asking why Ladysmith had not been attacked and that the reply was ‘we should lose tco many men.’ His answer to this excuse was the suggestion that the Free Staters might be put in the fore- | frort. This hint was taken and the at- tack made. President Kruger's ad- | vice was so far good that the Free Staters behaved better than the Trans- vaalers have done. At all events they o/ managed to seize a hill. Later in the day the Transvaalers retired before General White's counter-attack amid the jeers of the Free Staters, who actually stuck to their position until they were bayoneted in the ditch. After this affair it is almost certain that -the allles will quarrcl. A heavy gun mounted on Umbulwan Hill had been firing since daybreak. Evidently the siege of Ladysmith is still main- tained.” The Daily Mall has the following dis- patch, dated January 8, from Frere Camp: i ““With the exception of the usual shell- ing of the Boer position by the naval guns the British force Eight Boer camps were seen to-day by a patrol along the Tugela in a westerly direction. All were quiet. Natives say that when the British reconnoitered near Colenso on Saturday the Boers hurried from Springfield. This supports the be- lef that Colenso was weakened to attack Ladysmith.” TERRIBLE SLAUGHTER AMONG THE SUFFOLKS [Special Cable to the New York Herald. Copy- right, 1900, by James Gordon Bennett. Re- publication of this dlspatch is prohibited. All rights reserved in the United States and Great Britain.) LONDON, Jan. 11.—The special corre- spondents of the Daily Mail sends this dispatch: RENSBURG, Tuesday, Jan. 9.—On Sun- day a squadron of the composite House- hold Cavalry reconnoitered the enemy's extreme left flank and unmasked two guns, disclosing an entirely new position. There were no. casualties. To-day the camp is quiet and the men are resting. More complete detalls of the disaster to the Suffolks on Saturday show that when two of his companies reached the summit of the hill where the Boers lay, Colonel ‘Watson addressed the men and officers and an advance was made with flxed bayonets. The Boers, who were hidden in entrenchments, reserved their fire till our men were within twenty yards, and meanwhile crept round our force. On Colonel Watson giving the order to charge, he was immediately shot through the head and the men were mown down by a storm of bullets. Eventually they were stopped by the stone breastworks of the enemy, and here were surrounded and compelled to surrender. The other two companies retired without casualties. The Boers behaved well. They lald slain officers and men in separate places, covering their faces with their helmets and afterward assisted in bury- ing them singing a psalm over their graves. g BOERS MAY SEIZE DURBAN AS A PORT LONDON, Jan. 11.—The Times, in a spe- cial article dealing with the Delagoa Lay question, expresses the opinion that the endeavor of the Boers to overrun Natal lends confirmation to assertions made be- fore the war by prominent Boers that they would seize Durban as a port. The article proceeds to point out that by the through rate system, especially favorable to Transvaal shipments over the Delagoa- Transvaal Rallway, German ship-owners have been able to secure trafic with lit- tle risk ‘of examination at continental ports or at Delagoa Bay. The writer goes on to say: “It is known that, in anticipation of fu- ture military developments in the Trans- vaal toward the Seoutpansberg district, a considerable amount of stores and muni- tions of war have been forwarded for some time past, chiefly from the conti- ent. was fnactive. | MRS. KLUGE WILL BATTLE FOR THE SUTRO MILLIONS She Demands a Third and a Fourth of the Dead Capi- talist’s Estate. ISSATISFIED with an offer of a| quarter of a milllon dollars as the | terms of compromise, Mrs. Clara Kluge-Sutro will early next week file suit in the Superior Court to break the will of the late Adolph Sutro, | whom she claims as her husband and the | father of her two children. In addition to | the widow’s dower—one-third of the es- | tate, which 1S valued at $3,000,000—Mrs. | Kluge-Sutro seeks to establish her claim that her children—Adolph Newton Sutro, T MRS, CLARA KLVGE-S! RO a bright youngster of 8 years, and Adol- phié Charlotte Sutro, a lisping ntiss two years ‘her” brother’s junior—are the chil- dren of the dead capitalist, that they are | entitled to.one-quarter of his estate, and | that no stain rests on their baby heads, as | they were concelved and born in wedlock | sanctioned by the laws of the common- wealth. Mrs. Kluge-Sutro's new battle line, it is claimed, is backed by proofs of a missing will. She says her attorneys will prove that the deceased capitalist had named Judge Wallace and I. W. Hellman execu tors of the instrument; also that therein Adolph Sutro made good his promise to the city and gave to the municipality the | Clift House, the Sutro Heights and his Ibrary. Adolph Sutro’'s will offered for probate | has practically failed of its purpose | through. the establishment therein of a | trust to convey beyond lives in being and, | in “addition, it contains ambiguities in | divers provisions, which attempt to es- | tablish- perpetuities for other than chari- table uses. Fearful, however, that the | Supreme Court will set aside the judg- | ment of the lower court, sustain the will and deprive her of the right to establish heirship for herself and children under the varfous provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure, Mrs. Kluge-Sutro has de- cided to contest the document. Her long association with the deceased resulted in her thorough acquaintanceship with his acknowledged children and sisters, their habits and family secrets. Long ago, Mrs. Kluge-Sutro will main- tain, they joined their forces to contest her ‘claim for a division of the millions their father left behind and she points to this fact as evidence in support of her allegation that undue influence was ex- ercised by them over the old man during the last years of his life in the successful effort to compel him to forget her, whose children, she s: , are his, and to neglect them all in his last will and testament. Mrs. Kluge-Sutro will be represented in court by the firm of Rodgers, Paterson & It is a long list that Mrs. Klug Sutro must combat in the final battle b fore the Probate Court. Dr. Emma Mer- ritt, Mrs. Rosa Morbeo, Miss Clara Sutro that was, now Mrs. English of Chicago, Charles W. Sutro_and Edgar E. Sutro, children, and Mrs. Emma Winterberg and Mrs. Eliza Shucking, sisters, all heirs at law of the deceased, stand ready to con- tribute to the defense of the estate and to_oppose her demands. Mrs. Kluge-Sutro’s first step toward the acquirement of the share she belleves to be lawfully due her was taken in the Su- perfor Court Octaber 25, 15898. On that date she filed an application for letters of guardianship over the persons and estates of her children. In her petition she al- leged that her children were those of the late Adolph Sutro and that each was the owner of an undivided half of block 219, OQutside Lands. located in the heart of the Sutro tract. This land, Mrs. Kluge-Sutro claimed, was conveyed to her children by Mr. Sutro when with her they were liv- ing In a home he had built for them at | | | Claims She Can Prove That the Former Mayor Left Another Will Providing for Herself and Babies. MOTHER AND CHILDREN WHO WILL BATTLE FOR THE SUTRO MILLIONS. Clay and Steiner streets. Circumstances finally forced them to leave this home but all of th ty furnishings w moved before it was abandoned to 1919 Vallejo street, and there the little family remained until recently, when it removed 15 E 1 street. ! ge-Sutro says that the con- veyance of this land to her children, backed by the many letters she received from Sutro when she was abroad at his instance, establishes her claims in toto, s of his estate 1 1 the matter iage, which she al- tered into in 1393, as soon as the death of Mr. first wife would permit, they litigate long in the face of the she has In her possession that her children are his, and owledged them as such from to the time of his death. luge-Sutro is daily marshaling es and evidence, which she will carry into court to substantiate her claim. For some months past negotiations -have been pending between her, she says, and Attorney McKinstry, who represents the leges was e heirs, looking toward a compromise. The sum 'offered her, however, was insuffi- clent, and the contest will be filed. Her story of the relationship between herself and” Adolph Sutro will begin at their meeting in his home at the Heights four- teen years ago. when as a girl, seeking means of livelthood, she entered his homé as a seamstress Mr. Sutro quarreled with his wife. but the claimant remained there and ever aft- erward, until his death, she was his com- panion. Their life in a cottage at Paraiso Springs in the summer of 1880 will be fully explofted, as will the fact that in due time after returning to the city her first child, Adolph Newton. was born. He was yet 2 baby when the second child was born, and there was a happy family in_the pretty home the then aging man built for it. Since the death of Adolph Sutro, how- ever, little content has been known by Mrs. Kluge-Sutro. but she hopes that the time is not far distant when all will be well. She has yet until the 20th of the month 4o flle her contest before the ute of limitations bars_her. but i to be well in time she has instructed her attorneys to walit not later than Friday before firing the second shot in her bat- tle for her honor, a fortune and the good name of her children The specific allezation will be made (hat of the Heights and the the then Miss Kluge were united in marriage by contract in December. 1883, and that the contract was duly witnessed. Wi:- nesses, it is stated, are at hand to testify how Sutro told of this contract marriage and pronounced it a record of the nobiest deed of his life. While Mrs. Sutro’s attorneys are getting ready to do battle for her. and the claim is made that she refused a fortunc in compromise of her claim, the little woman is fighting _bitterly _to provide for herself and children. Plece after piece of property has been mortgaged and passed out of her keeping. The elegant home the deceased capitalist fitted up for her is sold. and even the furnishing has boen disposed of plece by plece. millionaire ship Company, besides ceasing to serve Herr Pott, the Transvaal Consul General at Lourenzo Marquez, as his agent has withdrawn {ts steamers from the Delagoa Bay route. The Castle Company has done the same, and made arrange- ments that will prevent any use at Dela- purposes. Measures in the same dirsction have been taken with regard to the Em- pressa Landing Company. Withdrawa! of | the steamers of two British mail com- | | panies may, however, Increase Great Erit- | ain’s difficulties by throwing the carry- | ing trade still more into the hands of continental shippers and diverting busi- steamers from American ports.” The article concludes by agaln urging the Government to endeavor to secure more strict examination. BOLD PLAN TO PREY UPON BRITISH SHIPS SAVANNAH, Ga., Jan. 10.—A special to the Morning News from Atlanta states that Captain Charles N. Hill, a resident of that city, who was an officer on the Brazillan revolutionary cruiser Nicthe- roy, has received a letter from Licuten- “Tt s understood that the Unlon Steam- | ant McDonald goa Bay of their vessels for anti-British | Craven, who was on the Nictheroy with him, offering him com- mand of a converted yacht armed with two 45-inch guns, which had been equipped by the Boer Government to prey upon British commerce on the Atlantic coast. E. A. Steyn was named as the Transvaal agent, with headquarters in Savannah, who had arrapged for the ex- pedition, which was to start from the Bahamas. Steyn went to Atlanta, it Is sald, to induce Hill to join the expedition, but Hill refused. Investigation in Savan- | nah falls to disclose any clew as to Steyn or any one answering his description. —_— - | STEAMER HERZOG ness to America for handling by foreign | HAS BEEN RELEASED DURBAN, Jan. 10.—The British author- ities have released the German steamer Hersog, which was seized January § while on her way to Lourenzo Marques. THE HAGUE, Jan. 10.—The Minister of Marine, J. C. Jansen, instructed the com- mander of the Dutch cruiser Friesland, now at Lourenzo Marquez, to proceed to Durban and take on board the Dutch am- bulance intended for the Transvaal and the stores sent out for the Friesland her- .H.“ which form part of the cargo of the erzog. nni.m. Jan. 10.—Several Foreign Of-