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

VOLUME LXXXIX—NO. This Paper not to be taken from the Library.++** SAN FRANCISCO, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1900. PRICE FIVE CENTS ANOTHER BLOW IS STRUCK BY COURT AT THE NEVADA WEDDINGS Judge Troutt Holds Abbie Rose Wood’s Claim to Widowhood Unsupported by Law. - o <+ 20SE WOOD AND JUDGE TROUTT. HER CLAIM FOR ALLOW- E FROM THE TATE OF THE MAN SHE MARRIED IN NEVA- ¥ DENIED BY THE JURIST. B - — + in no way er States regarding Hebbard is de sole pu and o 1 to the forma rriage as re- statutes of the sagebrush city whera t v nce as man and wif - relationship t Wood's deatt At »0d made an ap- ¢ for fam lowance pending the dis of decedent’s estate In aecordance the terms of his wi under which she was named as benefici- ary Her ition has been denied for the reasons expressed in the court’s opin- After quoting the law of this State from remarrying from the date of the de- ge Troutt says Vludlty of Reno Marriage. question then presents itself as reees The serio 2 by the laws of da The statutory law of the latter State regard- ng the subject of marriage is In part to the ffeot that ity in = s concern which T e aemt of the parties capable in, law of is essential” and that ‘“‘all per- . not having & husband * ¢ marriage,” and that are prohibited by law on having & former husband wen living shall, if solemnized within e Territory, be absolutely vold without B decree of divorce or other legal proceed- count of he Civil Code of our Btate declares that age ie personal relation arising out of ocontract to which the consent of parties of making it is necessary . t & subsequent marriage i lll!‘ll and v from the beginning unless the former marrage has been annulled or dissolved; pro- vided * * that the decree of divorce must ve been rendered at least one vear prior to subsequent marriage, and that “‘the ef- f a judgment decreeing a divorce is to parties to the state of unmarried Contention of the Opposition. contended in opposition to the petition sliowance that in the eye of the law in well as in California the petitioner seband 1iving on January 1, 1596, and, e, that the so-called Reno marriage alid In both Btates. pport of this contention it is urged et that the divorce decree of August 18, 1857, t become final and conclusive as to the nial relations of the parties until after as the (ime within which the petitioner’s r husbend might appeal from said decree en expired, and consequently that ier was not then legally entitled te the rights of an unmarried woman. In other =i shat she Wwas Dot then an unmarried an- with the capacity to contract a mar- with the dec C'mnot Evade Home Laws. S the Sugteme Cc yivania is no question as to |h° general iage which is valld by the law ere it is solemnized is valld * But where a man and wo- citizens of the same State and subject to ry prohibition agalnst en- contract which Is contrary to public fle and enter into another r the express purpose of violating the their domicile in this respect, the case exceptional and the great welght of u' against the validity of such a marriage in the place of their domicile. There been conflicting de upon this ques- ry few of them suitain the validity fon when it has been assumed for evasion of the law of the domietle 0 good morals. The fact of evasion has been repeatedly basis of invalldity when vould have been declared.” Few Persons Violated Law. It is to be presumed that very few persons slated the provisions of our Clvil Code rendment in 1897. But if there are have disregarded its reasonable pro is to be presumed that they have nds by contracting lawful marriage rliest time possible. If children have parties to such unlawful mar- y will not suffer, for if their parents fall to right the apparent wrong done by contracting a lawful marriage, the ite beneficence has protected them by providing that ‘‘the issue of all marriages null in law, dissolved by divorce, are legitimate.” For the reasons stated It my conclusion that the marriage ought not to be recognized by this court as valid. Accordingly the appli- cation for a monthly allowance out of this es- tate to petitioner as the widow of decedent s aented Attorney Lyons’ Statement. Attorney Timothy J. Lyons, who rep- resents Mrs. Wood, announced after read- ing Judge Troutt'’s decision that he al- ready had an appeal from Judge Belcher's dectslon pending before the Supreme Court and would immediately take the same course in the action decided by Judge Troutt. He sald: “Judge Troutt has reversed himself in this very case, and T am sure his decision of to-day will not hold. “Judge Hebbard, in the Adler case, re- cently decided that ‘Nevada marriages’ were {llegal, and while it may have been the intention of the California Legislature to prevent divorced persons remarrying within a vear, still the amendment cov- ering that wes not properly drawn. Judge Lucas F. Smith of Santa Cruz decided the first of the ‘Nevada marriages’ to be perfectly legal, and he recently wrote me that he felt sure the Supreme Court would uphold the legality of the cere- montes. “The gist of Judge Troutt's decision made to-day is that the amendment to section 61 of the Civil Code, which makes the proviso of one year as to remarriage of divoroed persons, really means that the divorced parties are not capable of remar- rying anywhere. “Now I teke it that the clear intention of the Legislature was that the divorced parties could not remarry within the year, in this State, and nothing whatever was sald as to marriages outside of the State, and the laws of Nevada likewise have no mention of the remarriage of divorced persons, divorced either in that State or eisewhere E everywhere. * man, made am 3 te Justice Gray of the United States Supreme Court, who is looked upon highest authority upon the com- rlex marriage laws of the country, ren- dered a most Important decision when he was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Massachu which has a vita! bear- 2 on the ‘Nevada marriages.’” He held at arrlage which was prohibited 1h M chusetts by statute, because con- trary to the policy of the State law, was vet valld'!f celebrated elsewhere accord- ing to the laws of the State in which the ceremony was performed, even if the par- ties were citizens and residents of Mas- sachusetts and went abroad for the pur- pose of evading the home laws, Legislature bad clearly enacted that such marriages out of the State were invalid in the State. Attorney Lyo as the < and his client pin their faith upon this decision, and the outcome of the c will be watched with interest by all who have visited the “Gretna Green” of the Sagebrush State in the last three vears, and whose names figured in divorce proceedings in this State dur- ing the year preceding the marriage across the border. Mrs. Wood Will Fight. Mrs. Wood was seen at her residence last evening, and in reference to the de- | cision safd: “I Intend to fight for my rights, and will not be satisfied until T have the decislon | of the court of last resort. I suppose that 7 am not the only one interested In tuis decislon, and while it may be law it is not justice. T was legally married to Mr. Wood, and but for the facts that the chil- | his former marriage were op- dren by posed to the marriage and that the value of the estate is large, I would not have had this trouble. “No question of compromise has ever been mentioned to me, and might have listened to it. ceiving a single cent from my husband's estate T propose to fight to the end for my legal rights. S WED IN RENO DESPITE ADVEB-SE DECISION | An Impatient Pair of Lovers Who Could Not Wait a Whole Year. A Reno marriage with a romance be- Pind it is that of Mr. and Mrs. Hermann Wessel, Wednesday last at noon. Love laughs at locksmiths and takes small stock in legal decisions which affect it. Judge Belcher’'s ruling on the legality of Reno marriages made no difference to the two ardent lovers who had waited long for each other. Wessel had but recently been through the divorce mill and a year must | elapse before he would be able to marry again according to California laws and 0 the couple went to Remo. Wessel and Mrs. Wessel met each other several years ago In New York, where the latter was a recent arrival from Hanover. Then Wessel came West and his sweetheart remained in New York. Wessel came to San ¥Francisco and settled, After a time he married and it was many vears before he and his first love, who had resained in New York and had mar- ried 2 man named Proll, met again. When they did it was in this clty and Wessel was suing for a divorce and Mrs. Proll was a.widow. The love which had been smoldering all these vears asserted itself and after a few weeks' courtship Mrs. Proll con- sented to go to Reno. Mr. and Mrs. Wessel have taken up thelir residence in a flat at 2. Grove street, where they iritend to reside as long as they remain in Ban Francisco. Wessel {s a native of Los Angeles and a prosperous business man. He is wgll known frater- nally and is a member of several shoot- ing clubs. e — 1 PORTUGUESE MINISTER LEAVES FOR LISBON Count Van Balynt Gives Notice That He Will Interpellate on the Existing Tension. THE HAGUE, Dec. 10.—The Portuguese Minister to The Netherlands, Count de Selir, has started for Lisbon, and the Dutch Minister to Portugal, Baron von Heckeren, is expected here from Lisbon this evening. Count Van Balynt, in tne Second Chamber to-day, notified the For- eign Minister that he would interpellate the Government to-morrow on the tensfon between The Netherlands and Portugal. unless the | if it had 1| As T am not re- | which took place in Nevada on | VICTORY 13 CLAIMED BY —_——— 'OfilCldlS Say Strike - of Telegraphers Is Lost. Passenger Trams Run on | Time and Freight IS Handled. EEFR IS, | FRAUDULENT TELEGRAM IS SENT| e —— Chargze of Forgery Mady Against | Railroad Management “in Their Fight to Kecp Men at Work. S CHICAGO, Dec. 10.—Officials of the San- ta Fe svstem claim that the telegraph strike on their line s practically over, and point to the fact that almost without exception their passenger trains were on time to-day and that freight was being | 1s great irated Third Vice President Barr of the Santa Fe system, the official most active in ad- justing the operation of the road during the strike of the operators, made the fol- lowing staten t to-night: W have men we want west of Albuquerque, but are short from 250 to 300 men on the lines east of that point. We | have been hunting men all day, and at the | present rate will have a full complement within three d The train due here at ) a. m. to-day was the only train that as late, and that but twenty minutes. | On the average our passenger trains have | reached Chicago as nearly on time as theugh there were no strike. We are ac- cepting all freight offered and are mov- ing most of it. Fruit shippers have been notified of our ability to handle shipments | up to the capacity of our equipment. All | of the important offices have been filled, | and all through business is being handled by orders from these points. “We have no quarrel with the organiza- tion known the Order of Railway Telegraphers. Our fight is with the indi- viduals who went out. cent of the men who refused 18 be retained and promoted. These who struck will not be re-engaged, although some who went back to work immediately will be retained.” | Three | the elevator of the Great Northern build- ing to-day were thrown out by Detectives Smith ard Cummings of the Pinkerton agency after a couple of wordy quarrels, Smith told the three men that they must not interfere with men going up to the | Santa Fe Company’s offices. The pickets said they had as good 'a | | | { | | tectives. Smith thereupon sent up for his partner and the two shoved the pickets into the street. The pickets had resorted only to the buttonholing process to keep | operators from hiring to the company. SAY THE STBIKE IS OVER. | Santa Fe Ofidnls Confident the Teleg- raphers Have Lost. TOPEKA, Kan., Dec. 10.—The officials of the Santa Fe give out the statement to- night that the strike of the telegraph | operators is practicaliy over. The oper- | atore themselves continue in ‘the beliaf | that their case is a winning one, and say the prospects look better now than they have been any time vet. The men in the Santa Fe shops here went to work as usual this morning. An order had been {ssued ciosing the shops as a result of the strike. The officlals later decided it to be madness for the shops to be kept closed, as they think the strike will be of small proportions. General Manager Mudge professes to be sanguine that the strike is at an end, and talks as follows regarding the revocation of the order for closing the shops: “The strike amounts to so little and the situation is so favorable that to shut down the shops is not necessary. I told Mr. Sanderson that such was the case, and it was decided to open the shops as usual. Mr. Sanderson sent for the men in order to have a full force on hand in the morning. Mr. Storey, the chief en- gineer, had also susvended some work under his jurisdiction. He recalled hiz men also. These orders were not drafted, 1 gave them verbally. “If the operators had succeeded in ty- ing up the =vstem and prevented the operation of trains we would have had nothing for the men in the shops to do. As it s, with our trains running very close to schedule and no practical in- terruption to our business, there will be the regular work to do, and no reason why it should not be done, “We have word that on the California lines the operators are back to work. On the Southern California and S8an Joaquin Valley there are none out. They went out when the order to strike was sent, but came back shortly afterward. They have no gulevance, and are under contract. On the Santa Fe Pacific there are about fifty operators out, is our information. One hundred and twenty-three men went out on the Guif line in the original stufke, which was the whole number employed.” “I never say such a fizzle of a strike in all my experience,”” General Superinten- dent Ressegule stopped long enough from his work at the key to remark. He and General Manager Mudge have spent most | AN FE as before the Seventy-five per | to strike | were members of the order, and these will pickets stationed at the foot of | right to be where they were as did the de- | CAPTAIN TERRIBLE TALE OF AN ARMY OFFICER Late Prisoner of Filipinos Re- turns on the Hancock. SHIELDS, ks - | I \ [ | 11 i ’ 1 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | i i I il | I I | { | | I B | | | : | | B 1 f | | | 1 | | | g | i | ‘ \ { | | il |1 | | |1 k - + | L " THE WOUNDED OFFICER AS HE LOOKED IN HIS ROOM AT THE OC- | 1 || CIDENTAL LAST NIGHT. WHILE RELATING HIS AWFUL EXPE- ) I 2] RIENCE IN THE PHILIPPINES. | ¥ 58 . - WICE wounded, a prisoner for thirty-one days, nearly starved and subjected to mental and phy sical tortures that only barba- | rians are capable of inflicting, Captain Devereux Shields lives to tell of his terrible experience at the hands of the Filipinos. The captain arrived in city on the transport Hancock yesterday and is now at the Occidental. | With his head swathed in bandages and his hearing partly gone, as a result of a painful bullet wound. he sat nervously in his room last evening and related the Philippines—a story that reads more like fictfon than cold truth. Captain Shields was attached to the | Twenty-ninth Infantry Regiment. His exciting times began on September 11, when he left Santa Cruz on board the | transport” Villa Labos for Torrijos, a emall town on the east side of the island. He had with him a detachment of fifty- two men. They embarked at Torrijos without opposition. The next morning they came across a Filipino garrison a few miles from the town. The Americans | drove off the sixty Filipinos who were behind the earthworks after several | hours’ fighting. The fort was then de- stroyed and the men returned to Torrijos. The following day—a memorable thir- teenth—the detachment started back to Santa Cruz, the intention being to make the bulk of the journey afoot and inci- dentally “pick off” stray Filipinos. What happened on that journey, which was never completed, is best told in the cap- tain’s own words: “We had gone but a short distance,” said he, “when suddenly a shower of bul- lets fell around us, and simultaneously our scouts came running up with the in- formation that a large force of insur- gents were on the cliff just above us. Further explanation was not needed, for a second, quickly followed by a third and fourth volley of shots came whizzing into our midst. The Filipinos were in such a position that it was useless for us to an- swer the attack from our position, so I gave orders to retreat. Meanwhile four of our little band had been killed and eeveral others were | wounded. There must have been 250 in- | surgents and they fired from a distance of less than 300 yards. As we retreated a bullet struck me in the left shoulder. ‘We made for a skirt of woods some four miles off, and this is all that saved us from complete annihilation. As we crossed a rice fleld the insurgents, who had all along been three-quarters of the way around us, closed in. I then had only thirty-four effective men, but resolved to make a final desperate struggle, when a mauser penetrated my neck and I toppled this: story of his thrilling adventures in the | | over unconscious. I fell in about two feet of mud and water, and it was the water | I believe that brought me quickly to my | senses. Two of my men had meantime | rigged a litter and were carrying me along when T recovered conseciousness. | “Just as I began to realize what had | happened one of the men who was carry- | ing me fell dead from a bullet wound. T ! then saw it was useless for them to try | 2nd save me, and I gave orders for them | to hurry on and leave me with a hospital corps van. After they had gone I ordered a white flag to be hoisted, but it proved a target for the insurgents, who fairly littered it with bullets. “By this time the Filipinos were upon us. One dirty fellow rushed up to me | and the first thing he did was to remove | cap, place it on his own head and then jam his mud-besmeared straw hat over my head. Maybe I wasn't mad. | Then he took my watch and chain and everything in my pockets, and finally tried to vank a couple of rings from my fingers. They wouldn't come off, so he whipped out an ugly looking knife and | was on the point of cutting off my fingers | when I managed to loosen the rings my- | self. He took them with a grunt and | hurrfed off. “Another fellow came up. loaded his | gun, aimed it at my head and was about | to fire when a hand pushed the barrel | away and I recognized my rescuer as a | sergeant in the Insurgents’ ranks whom | 1 had met at Santa Cruz. “I was finally hustled away to a hut, where they kept me for twelve days. Rice | was about all I had to eat. After the | twelve days I was forced to march, be- | ing driven through dense thickets, swamps, rivers and impenetrable jungles. The other wounded were with me, and it was terrible to see them suffer. Some were barefoot and not a few had fe- | vers which would make the most hopeful | physicians look grave. | i | “They had me brought across the islana to the west shore, and here I was allowed | to write a letter to headquarters at | Santa Cruz. General Hare replied, and | on the 14th of October the general reached us in the gunboat Bennington, and the next day we were sent to the Manfla hos- | pital. “A few days after I was taken prisoner | there was a clamor among the more ex- | citable natives to have me put to death, | and for a week or more I did not value | my life at very much.” The captain says that few of the prison- ers escaped as luckily as he did. One man who was captured was subjected to the grossest cruelties, being bound on his back and his nose and ears cut off and | eves pulled from their sockets. Then he | was shot. of the day side by side In the telegraphic department of the general office perform- ing the work of telegraph operators. Mr. Ressegule said that the defections of the operators secem to have been divisions. “Vacancies were nearly all filled up on the Chicago division vesterday,” said he. “Some of the men who went out are al- ready wanting to be taken back into the service of the company, but their request will not be granted. President Ripley is very firm on that point. As far as the operation of trains is concerned, we are keeping them right up to the schedule. fn effect I will say that the strike is over. Freight tralns are all running as usu: We are taking all the business we can get, and are handling it in the usual or- d?:-: G. Sholes, superintendent of tele- graph, says he i8 recelving numerous ap- plications from outside telegraphers for positions In answer to advertisements he has inserted In all the leading dally pa- . He anticipates little trouble in filling all the places he has under his con- trol. In common with the other offictals, strongest on the Oklahoma and Western | | Mr. Sholes is profuse in his assurances )that the strike Is at an end. The officlals are all of one opinfon that the strike is ended in most places, but cannot explain the absence of men from the office here. Not one of the Topeka operators has returned to work, and | trom reports received from over the di- vision the strikers here seem to think they have gained the day. Opinions as to the duration of the strike differ. The men think they will win, but they are afraid it will take them a long | time. The officers of the road will set no time for the operations of the road to ra- turn to their normal condition. NEWMAN CHARGES FORGERY. Says Santa Fe Officials Resort to Sending a-Spurious Telegram. WICHITA, Kan., Dec. 10.—Chairman James W. Newman, of the Santa Fe sys- tem dtvision. O. R. T., made the following statement to-night: ““The situation on the Santa Fe, so far Continued on Page Two CHAFFEE'S CLASH WITH WALDERSEE [ ‘American General Acts According to Instructions. Letter Protesting Against Looting Incurs Count’s Displeasure. . ——p— ! PRESERVES INDEPENDENT ACTION R ' Commander of the United States Tro ps Is Upheld in the Stand Taken by Him. CALL BUREAU, 1406 G STREET, N. W.. WASHINGTON, Dec. 10.—War De- partment officials express no surprise over the report from Peking that General Chaffee has incurred the displeasure of Count von Waldersee because of his let- ter protesting against looting. Chaffee’s independent action in preventing looters from passing through gates guarded by American troops Is apparently in con- formity with instructions from the Secre- tary of War. It appears from the dis- patch from Peking that exception was taken to his acting independently in the matter and without the approval of Von Waldersee. While officials decline to be interviewed they point to Chaffee’s in- structions as a vindication of his con- duct. In a dispatch to Chaffee dated June 30 he was directed by the Secretary of War as follows: “You wiil, however, avold entering into any joint actlon or understanding with other powers tending to commit or Hmit this Government as to its future course of conduct.” In secret Instructions sent Chaffee July 19, by cable to Nagasaki, Chaffee was told to *‘confér freely with the command- ers of other national forces, act concur rently with them, seek entire harmony of action along lines similar in purpose and interest. There should be full conferences as to operatlons before they are entered upon. You are at liberty to agree with them from time to time as to the com- mon official direction of varfous forces in their combined operations, preserving, however, the integrity of your own Amer- fean division, ready to be used as a | separate and complete organization ™ At the time of Count von Waldersee's selection by the German Government and his acceptance by the United States Gov- ernment, Secretary Root, in explaining this Government's action, said, while this Government was willing Count von Wal- dersee should act as the general com- manding the allied forces, Chaffee would, under instructions from the War Depart- ment, reserve the right to command his own men, and Count von Waldersee would not have any authority over the American soldiers 1 mp or as a separate military orgaMization. It was made plain he was to be recognized as commanding the American expedition in a technical way as part of the whole al- lied army, and only when a combinea movement was on foot. It is said that Chaffee’s conduet in In- dependently barring to looters the gates defended by American troops is certainly within his rights and in line with his instructions to preserve his rights to in- dependent action e HAY’'S DIPLOMATIC VICTORY. Germany’s Defeat in China Is Not Pleasant to the Kaiser. BERLIN, Dec. 10.—It i{s now dawning upon the German press and public that | Mr. Hay. the American Secretary of State, has secured an out and out diplo matic victory in compelling the powers, Germany included, to yield to his argu- ments in favor of more moderate terms | in the preliminary joint note to the Chi- nese peace plenipotentiaries. This clearly defined defeat Is especially | bitter here, because Emperor Willlam had set h!s heart on imposing the most hu- miliating conditions upon the Chinese, and thus emphasizing Germany’s power in their eyes. LONDON, Dec. 10.—In the House of Commons to-day, replving to a question on the subject, the Under Secretary of the Foreign Office, Lord Cranborne, sald the Government had been notifled that present disposition of the troops of the allles on the Shanhaikwan Railway was of purely temporary character. The Gov- ernment, he added, was watching Brit- ish interests. Lord Cranborne also said the replies of the powers to the invitations to adhere to the Anglo-German agreement would ba promptiy presented to Parliament. s —_—— LI'S SECRETARY ARRESTED. LONDON, Dec. 10.—A special dispatch from Shanghal announces that LI Hung Chang's Manchu secretary, Yako, has been arrested by order of Fleld Marshal Couftt von Waldersee on the charge of communicating with the Boxers. BERLIN, Dec. 10.—Field Marshal Count von Waldersee telegraphed from Peking, under date of Saturday, December $, that the two detachments of troops from Tientsin, commanded by Colonel Lonr- scheidt and Major Falkenheyn, which had been proceeding against a considerabla force of Chinese regulars who had taken up a position at Tsangchou, ninety-five kilometers southward of Tientsin, have occupled the place without opposition. and that the columns are returning to | Tientsin