The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, September 29, 1900, Page 1

o ———-— Tall, VOLUME LX XXVIII-NO. 121. PRICE FIVE CENTS. MEET DISASTER IN PHILIPPINES ‘aptain Shields and Fifty-One Men Are} Captured or Killed by the Insurgents. Followers of Aguinaldo on the Island MANY CONFERENCES, BUT NO SETTLEMENT Coal Operators and Miners Have Not Yet Reached | an Agreement to Erd the Big Strike in Foree in Pennsylvania:. There is a premise of many conferences tefire the sirike of the coal miners n the anthracite rezions of P2nnsylvania is called off Some of the larger opera:ors ircreasing 'he price of anthricite coal, while the mine esitaie on the ques:ion of FIRST STORY OF PEKING'S SIEGE ‘Mrs. Conger Writes of the Horrors Endured by the Besieged Foreigners. Brave Women Cheerfully Partook of Coarse Food and Aided Men in the Gallant Defense. rkers may retuse to accept an increased scale unless it is accompani=d by | Special Dispatch to The Call. recognition of their union. DS £ Sept 28.—The HILADELPHIA riki ettled. B P 2 conference of mine operators and of leading officials | of the coal-carrylng railroads | were plentiful. Bevond the general state- | ment that the principal point under ¢ cussion was the ability or practica workers a 10 bility of granting | per cent advanc very little of the deta the could be glean- ed. The operators expre the 1 the that in yuld expenses met not \ting ance in the price unless there The ever, took r: companies, how- hesitating view of the further increase the price that the com- proposition tc f anthracite | history of America. If the 10 per cent in- | crease mentioned in the newspapers correct, while Tar from satisfactory, it is the greatest victory ever achieved by or- ganized labor and won under the most ad- verse circumstances. 1. of course. have nothing to say as to what action will be | taken as to the acceptance or rejection of any proposition: this must be deter- mined by the whole body of anthracite miners themselves. Our organization will not make the mistake which has wrecked other organizations, of assuming the power to determine through its of- ficers the happiness or misery, the weal or woe, of the 500.000 men, women and children dependent upon the anthracite coal industry for a livelthood.” In discussing the reported 10 per cent advance offered the men by the operators | Mr. Mitchell said: nder the sliding scale in- | crease would practically amount to noth- | ing. What the men would gain in one day they might lose the next.” By the sliding scale is meapt that the | | wages are fixed according to the market price of coal. If there is an advance in the price the miners share in it, and should there be a decrease the miners correspondingly share such decrease. Quietness continues to prevail through- | out the whole Lehigh Valley region. The J. 8. Wentz & Co.'s colliery at Hazle- | is | | many such an (e = =5 > | brook shut down to-day, a body of 100 1 NIGHT SHIFT LEAVING THE WORKINGS AT SHAMOKIN ON THE et SRAxNg s heds Sioty Deeiand ylo DAWN OF THE FIRST STRIKE DAY. INDICATIONS SEEM TO BE | | that place and Induced the men working THE STRIKERS MAY GAIN THEIR DEMANDS. |iinsthe. Wents colliezy to quit. % | A 1arge parade of miners from the sur- T - = = | rounding towns s to be held in Hazle- : or refused to ] petition of bituminous coal was now too | could not be granted without loss or an | ton to-morrow, but the Mayor refused to L advaiiceiin: the pilba ot toel: | permit it to take place. He would give President Mitchell of the United Mine-| The president of onc of the big com- | PO Teason, but it is belleved he took this | workers is reticent on the general qu panies in New York, who was called up | 5teP to avold disturbances | on of accepting a 10 per cent in by long-distance telephone for his views > without other conc and declined to ! on this oint, is sald 10 have stated that ENGINEERING SETTLEMENT. be interviewed on t Meantime the str are con- | tinuing the efforts to induce the working | miners to join in the ‘strike. Quiet pre- vailed to-day throughout the mine re- he did not think an increase in the price of coal could be entertained. Bituminous coal is too sharp a ccmpetitor now and an increase in anthracite would be to the advantage of the bituminous article. The Operators Say Hanna Is the Central Figure in Negotiations. SCRANTON, Pa., Sept. 28.—Operators here admit that Senator Hanna Is the cen- tral figure in the negotiations for a set- Irs. E. H. Conger, wife of tha United States Minister to China, has written a most interesting account of the siege of the legations at Peking. As this is the first connected story of the incidents of that terrible experience it is of unusual interest. MOINES, Towa, Sept desperate resort ters were recefved in Des ) all night. The Chir an vesterday from Mrs. E. H. Cor iermined the F h legatior they ger and Miss Mary Plerce. wife | w up several houses. and niece of the American Mini “Fortuna mly one man was killed ter to Chi H. Conger of Des Moines. | However, m any, n « ese were kilied and who, with him, went through the en- | by thetr own mine. It did not work s | tire siege of Peking. which began e expected. By the mine explosicn the in June and lasted for two months. Mrs. | Chinese gained possession of over half th tter Is to her nephew. EAWIN | French legation and burned the . of the cfice of the Treasur y were only a few feet away from our The letter consists of an | parracks e - review of the whole siege “The French caj 1 a Chinese soldier nger's er gives details of the | and a coolie. They told some Interesting jonally revealing the despera- | news and asked m o8 how gan to show in the besieged | we were able to hold ou live. They weeks had passed. They | were surprised we could t s 10 | them to teav. | sary to go through the country to Tien- ov-ever, of the start of the re: cuers. The letter under the last date fol- | unhealthy. The coolie was sent b Chinese headquart wo 10, 1900.—Rejoice Rejoice! returned with a message to § m our coming treops, only for de Macdonald and Uncle Ed They coming five thou- | ometimes we frightened the C | s Our he re full to over- | by their own handiwo A United States { flowing. Our food was going low. half | sailor resurrec an oid Chinese gu pound of horse meat each day issued for | it on the wheels of an Italian | 'the foreigners. and dogs are killed for | with careful management fired Chinese to eat. Two of our horses have | shells. It kicks terribly and is dang | been eaten and re 1sc na! Our mule is work- o sn t liable to be kill- | much n and the cook Plan to get some- | have also been rk makifig car | thing for us to eat. One day meat was | tridges. It is wonderful what every one low and Wong brought in two little €hi- | has de nese sparrows for us whole. He said he | “The Chinese always do the unexpected. me rice on the floor and when they | They kept gradually working their way me caught them. One cup of | around and drawing us until thei fresh milk is brought In every day | with shells and rifles was about now. Where he gets it [ do not know. |to make us give up. Houses were wrecked : and cooks exchange with other boys = i coc What there is being taken i i 4 fram our stoves for this midk 1 do not t now or care 14—Rejoice. londer and | louder! Comirg troops are here | joy a warm greetings you never s before. Oh. happy days! Most of these | brave men coming to our rescue have come through, but with great loss and | sufering. Most of us are stll here. ard | vet our loss has been by far too great. t night the firing was terrific—worse than anything we ve had at all. Our »ps he: it. and when quiet d thought that they had been just | | too late. Many more such nights would have tried u hey turned their big guns on us again t I am not going to write: | | 1 cannot. Warm shakes of hands and | | eyes filled with tears speak the language | of the heart better than words. and we | e such loving brothers and sisters here, giving tharks to our dear Father and giving love and h to one and all from all. “Our Laura, brave girl, has been grow- | | MRS. E. H. CONGER, WIFE OF I ing stronger during the prolonged siege. STA MIN- We are fre he troops came in about 4 X - o'clock. nd cheers went up louder o i than did those of the Boxers. ““One afternon imagine our aston shment on learning that all foreign Ministers ved their pa ts. instructing within twenty-four hours, that the Government would furnish carts and provisions and a large guard of Chi- nese to protect them. the raiiroad had been destroyed it was neces- and men killed men were lost in comparisor number that we feit weaker “While all the firing was goin ‘were busy tryin with sewing machines. have made thousands exaggerating. for the have even helped to fi was put to work. Aunt Sarah (Mrs. Con- ger) used all her silk draperfes and table nd wounded. So many to ov had to drown th. In th of sandt soldiers tsin, which would have taken many days, | besides more than twenty-four hours to | = T T daing, toweling and prepare for it | every plece of new goods that we uad “The foreign Ministers replied tnat they | o . sandbag: wanted an audience with the Tsung-li Yamen the next morning at 9 o'clock. But the Chinese are so slow that an an- swer to this request was not received until NOT TRYING TO TAKE LEAD. Official Declares Germany Aims to have secure recru troops ex =00t M thur s ex- to mean he is awaliting the of reinforcements from China btedly he has heard from General | cer has advised him | made for their de- | ing extensive op- | erati; Luzon General MacArthur is | understood to be awaiting the arrival of | ations Before be gurther rforcements. When all the | troops under orders arrive in Maniia he | wil] have a command of more than 70,000 strong. It is understood at the depart- ment that he will don some of the » r points, mobilizing the detach- garrisoning them, and with larger forces will begin operations for the pur- pose of annthilating the insurgents In ths pevera] districts in which the island wili be divided, Each Independent commanrd will occupy & central position o that it will be able to go to the relief of a town » < . / > of Marinduque Deal Blow to » » American Arms. Special Dispatch to The Call. P T Devereux 1 -one men of the Twenty-ninth n ve t or are prisoners in the hands of to the Am n arms is considered of the Filipino insurrection. It feared the s bas also been captured by the follow of e } ent Gener: Foutr HOPE FOR BRYAN'S ELECTION. for ct to Secure Independ- . . Democratic Success. s zor 2 \ ! M 3 M 8 ed its. But ex- - = m g them 4s a pretty hard task % the fact that when too closely b heir rifles and se ; = R " Re A HOW FILIPINOS FIT BULLETS. = Considerable Ingenuity Is Displayed by the Insurgents. R E of the insnlar @ } officer in the Ph g > the ingeniousne ' m r in which k everything in the . . E m for carrying on the war. < 1 . you a couple of rounds of . munition that I captured in a trench . day. At first glance it looks . » - munition, but If you will " w markings on the base you will 2 . skirr s one is K. C. and the other W. 8. = . both 30 caliber. One is bud rtridge that some soldier dropped and € he other is a reloaded shell. Both are . filed off so that they will go into a clip. oF I tried them in a captured Mauser rifle E | an@ they workea finely. The ammunition o that is used in the Remington is just as They use anything from an stol shell. or the shell of a 30-cal- home-made shell from a tin- xcept In the Mausers, of which hav a few, they use black sowder and not very good at that.” The writer 0 relates some of his ex- the Filipinos: He says at In getting on a hill, firing nd then ge aw: The ut him full of decayed making it very difficult for him to rough with his men. Pursuit of the small bands is thus very un- a only eriences wi re g ah PICKED OFF BY SHARPSHOOTERS Colonel Allen Reports on' Operations of the Signal Men. SHINGTON, Sept. 28.—Lieutenant Colonel James Allen, chief signal officer n the Philippines, in submitting his report of the operations of the s!gnal corps dur- ing the month of July says the most nota- Lle feature of the month was the in- creased amount of line cutting, which kept many men employed in repair work. On the island of Panay communication cn the castern end of the island has been abandoned, but it is expected the line will be rebullt. Twenty miles on the wes: const have been destroyed. In Leyte most of the wire put up has been torn down. Many encounters with (he insurgents re- pulted periously, and linemen are often pieked off by sharpshooters. Owing 16 the fact that so much rebuild- ing and repeiring have been necessary but little new itne has been constructed. gion. in expectancy of nouncement from there, - | MEETING OF COAL OPERATORS. | Discussion of the Scheme to Advance Wages of Miners. P WILKESBARRE, Pa., Sept. 25.—An im- portant meeting of the coal operators of the Wyoming and Tackawanna valleys was held at the office of the Lehigh Val- ley Coal Company in this city to-day. All the representatives of the big coal com- panies with collierfes in this section were some important an- | present. The only individual coal pro- Qucers present were Coxe Brothers. | A. Lathrop, genecral superintendent of the Lehigh Company, the chairman of the committee of the coai operators of the Lackawanna district, presided. After the conference was over several operators were asked for opinions, but they were very reticent. Superintendent Lathrop satd: “We discussed a scheme of advancing the wages of all the men thromghout the region at least 10 per cent. The powder question was also discussed, but we were not prepared to give out any information regarding our deliberations on the sub- Ject.” From another reliable source it was learned that the presidents of the coal companies in New York sent a draft of the proposed settlement of the strike to thelr representatives here with Instruc- tions to meet In conference and discuss whether it would be advisable to make terms with the strikers on the basis stat- ed. This involved a gieat deal of labor and caused endiess discussion. Some of the superintendents thought the Increase | All eves were turned toward New York | | over the operating expenses of their mines i | Ing was dispatched to New York in charge | operators as to what transpired at the | of a speclal messenger. Wilkesbarre conference to-day further | conference was asked t0 examine into the cost of mining coal and see if there could not be a saving made somewhere in oper- ating expenses. It is' reported that -he representatives of the Lackawanna Company. after going tlement of the strike, and while they pro- fess to be at sea as to the detalls they are confident that he knows beforehand what will be acceptable to the miners and that whatever conditions he has exacted or is exacting from the coal men in New York will be nothing less than what would be | fully satisfactory to the miners. This confidence is greatly heightened by a gen- erally credited story that the delay in issuing the strike order was to give Pres- ident Mitchell time to interest Senator Hanna in the efforts at effecting a settle ment. , Nothing would be given out by the local in this district, were of the opinion that they could stand the increase. From what could be learned the oper- ators were not opposed to granting a re- duction In the price of powder, but there was a strong feeling expressed against an out and out recognition of the Miners' Union. A stenographic 1eport of the meet- than they discussed the proposed settle- | ment. Action on their part is not called | for, they say, and if they are consid- | ered in the matter at all it will only be out of courtesy. “Where New York leads we must follow,” one of them declared. The strikers here are jubilant over the | new turn in affairs and will gladly second any reasonable concessions by way of conciliation. John Germyn was the only operator found willing to be quoted in the settlement matter. He sald it was Mark Hanna who was engineering the settle- ment, and that he (Germyn) did not ap- prove of allowing politics to interfere, no matter how much the politicians had at stake. *It is useless to kick, though,” he added. “Those New York fellows have the power. We must simply fall in line.” —_— WAITING FOR iNFOmATION. President Mitchell Does Considerable Talking Over the Telephone. HAZLETON, Pa.. Sept. 28.—Notwith- standing the rumors of settiement and of concession upon the part of the operators, there was no change in the great coal strike situation here to-day. It was probably the most inactive day that President Mitchell and his officiar staff have spent since the strike began. That President Mitchell is waiting for in- formation from New York cannot be de- nied, for he intimated several times dur- ing the day that something might develop before night. In the forenoon he had two lengthy conversations over the long dis- tance telephone, and between 4 and 5 o'clock he was at the wire for more than a half-hour. To whom he talked he de- clined to say. When he was pressed to TRIED BY COURT-MARTIAL. PEKING, Sept. 22.—The M:unchu as- sassin of Baron von Ketteler was tried by court-martial yesterday. No new evi- 4p. m. In the meantime a great deal hap- | penea. “At 9 o'clock, no reply being received, the German Minister, Baron von Ketteler. sald he was going to the yamen anyway | because he had other business to transact with the yamen, and he would be throug" | with it by the time the other Ministers reached the vamen. He started with his interpreter, but a little way off Legation street they were met by a crowd of Chi- nese soldiers and the German Minister was shot in the head. The interpreter escaped to the Methodist mission, re- ceiving severe wounds in the leg. The Mafoo care back to tell the news. ‘“Everything seemed.to threaten us that { day and everybody moved into this lega- tion except some of the men connected with the different legations and soldfers. All the Austrians and Belgians came m here and our men. with the Germans, mediately went back. the legation all the time. only here for his meals. As soon as he Jeaves the men get discouraged and think an at- tack is coming and they won't be able to hold the legation. have become less friendly, and in taking possession of the wall they placed a can- our legation and Into the German lega. tlon, dence was presented and the court dectded that it would be unjustified in proneunc Ing sentence upon the prisoner, who, how- ever, will be held in the hope that further information will be ebtained. say something on the general strike situ- ation he said: “This has been thé greatest industrial contest between labor and capital In the went up on the wall with thirty men and drove the Chinese back, killing fifty, The Germans did the same thing, “A horrible attack was made ene night on the wall and every legation. It was Russians. French, Ttallans and Japanese, | started to abandon the legations, but im- | “Urcle New (Minister Co=ger) stays at | coming | non and poured shot and shell down Into | It was so hot that Captain Mayers | chair coolies dropped the chair and ran | as soon as they saw the soldlers and the | Restore Harmony. BERLIN, Sept. 28.—An official of the Foreign Office to-day called attention to a statement of a London paper that “the view prevails in the United States that Germany, In issuing her recent note, was trying to take the diplomatic lead In the Chinese question.” This assertion he em- phatically denled, declaring that, on the contrary. Germany was merely endeavor- ing by means of her proposal to restore harmony among the powers. “Conditions are not vet ripe." he said, “for beginning negotiations, although the only obstacle is China herself. The recent acts of the Chinese Government shows that it is still far from respecting the will of the powers. If it should show a change of spirit by dellvering some of the gullty mandarins for punishment that would be the time to talk of making peace.” When the attention of the Foreign Office official in question was called to the ex- treme difficulty of capturing the guilty persons In such a vast country, even sup- posing that an agreement had been reached as to who they are, he replied: “It would not be necessary to ecatch them all, It would be quite sufficlent to punish those who are the easlest to | eaten. The Chinese soldters | - CHINESE TROOP! DISARMED, Russian General Reports the Capture of a Town in Manchuria. ST, PETERSBURG, Sept. 2.—General Agustoff has sent the following dispateh to the War Office; “Rennankampf captured Kirin, Septem. ‘ber 24, and established his headquarters there. ' The Chinese troops were dise armed.”