The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 5, 1901, Page 1

The VOLUME LXXXIX—-NO. 36. SAN FRANCISCO, SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 1901. PRICE FIVE CENTS. IAQUA GOES ON DUXBURY REEF AND FORTY PERSONS DROWN Steamer Caught in Fog Outside Golden Gate Is Dashed to Destruction on the Rocks, but One Out of All on Board Reaching Shore. Chief Engineer Burrill Is Washed to Land on an Overturned Boat and Telephones for Assistance, but the Doomed Vessel Goes Down With Crew and Passengers Before Help Arrives. iis city vesterday afternoon for San Diego with a cargo of general merchandise, was wrecked last night on Duxbury Reef, just outside the Golden Gate, and all on board, with the single exception who was washed ashore on an overturned boat after being in the water two hours, are believed to have perished. Details are meager, but it is known that there were between thirty and forty persons vessel at the time of the accident. 1 from Eurek o a several days ago for San Pedro and put in here yesterday to land some passengers. As soon as that duty had been attended to, Captain Basch put to sea again. How the disaster occurrea writing, but there was a heavy swell on outside the heads last night and it is probable that the unfortunate vessel, drifting too near the reef in the haze that overspread the water, was thrown upon e a fath Her gly opposed uch clemercy towar It must not be 14 see inauzurated a r facts were communicated by Mr. Dolbeer early this morning, but he could give no further particulars. ernoon. WAR IN PHILIPPINES Army Officers in Their Campaign of Occupation and Opposes the System of Paroling Filipinos. er got ashore neither Mr. Dolbeer nor any one else seems to know. icate \\“h the city quickly, tarted at once for the scene of the disaster. ubmit such a re- the Holy Father th both pa tion of the diffi- er to me Archbishop Chapelle will urge the Pope to to Washington for sing a change of It must be re- Archbishop 1s no people, he is exercise of too urbing ele- inderstood that he He 1s an and would be} stle of the py aid all »d harmony with each i it he feels that the rebeli ppines of the aring y do so0 1 is not the work best interests of the art. He feels that ives who are &t pres- against American rough fear of Aguinaldo leaders more than because at arms 4 for the United States or a American rule is oppression.” e Father Bressi read from the Arch- “Clemency may be im- As you are aware I jus- naity only when meted out by t the clemency of the Amer- e of blood and | in the most | and aggravated cases of personal stic injury and simple, ale or governments for political Bu I regard it as mur- | | | H 1 | | o | | | | ARCHBIS PIN DOWN THE INSURRECTION - HOP CHAPELLE, THE PAPAL DELEGATE TO THE PHILIP- ; WHO ADVOCATES A MORE VIGOROUS POLICY IN PUTTING ON THE ISLANDS. ican Government -in its dealings with some of the ill-famed characters of the insurrection is worse than the application | jof unduly severe measures. Men like | (here Father Bressi omitted read- | ing the names) and many more of whom I | have heard have been paroled by the Ame: homes, have greater assistance to their unholy cause | than they could haves ever hoped to be in the field. I blame officers for this condition. They are not exact enough in their duties from the | commanding generals down. A vigorous where they | warfare—not upon the helpless and harm- | less inhabitants of the cities and villages, ing entatl less loss of life and treasure and ‘!mng the unfortunate struggle to aspeedy ose. islands while the American army is sim- ply one of occupation. Action—vigorous, resolute, manly, judicious, military—is hat is peeded. Let the present policy be wed and the disturbance will re- main.” : | Questioned as to his views of the mat- | ter Father Bressi said that ihez were in strict accord with those of the Arch- bishop. “From, my long experience in the Phil- ippines I 5°a </avinoed (hst the granting ns and allowed to return to their | been of far | the American army | , | the bands of insurgents. but upon the bands of marauders parad- | under the: names of patriots—would | Never will there be peace in these ! — ‘ of paroles is a serlous mistake. The worst ‘rebell in ‘the islands are in the city of Manila. Within a- stone’s throw, one might say, of General MacArthur's resi- dencel’ They are in constant communica- | tion with the other leaders in the field | and are supplying the first great muni- tion of war—money. “It is the Archbishop’s idea that all the | paroled Filipino ofticers should for the | time being be held as nominal prisoners on some of the other islands of the group, at such a distance as to be entirely out of | communication with Aguinaldo and the other chiefs. Then a stirring advance of several columns should be made agalnst They should be followed: constantly and allowed no op- portunity to recuperate their forces or | replenish . their: stores. Drive them into | the northern mountains and their fleld for recruiting by intimidation would be taken | from them. ““The vast majority of the Fillpino peo- ple, while I will not say they are friendly | to the United States, are peacefully in- clined and desire an end to the strife. They have faith iu_Aguinaldo only so long as he eludes the Americans and claims great'things for himself by means of egotistical prociamations.” Father Bressi will go by French wagon train to Slenhwa and Bulan, and from the latter place have a cavalry escort to his destination—Pong Ti Hoo. S | The complainant is Cari Ruff, a brother | of her husband. | of the city, | structure through a | Valdez, a hired man. | children, | weeks-old babe in her arms. | the father, In frantic effort< to get to his | Burrill probably was too excited to give details. e ashore the presumption is that the thirty or forty people known to have been on board were drowned. At 2 and it is also possible that the rescuing tugs may have arnved on the scene in time to pick them up. B e e e e e e o e e e e B L i e e R FAVORS A VIGOROUS It is of course possible that the other boats may have I reached the shore and telephoned to William G. Mugan, representative of Dolbeer & Carson, agents for the vessel in this city, saying the steamer was in distress and asking for by whom she was loaded. Mr. Dolbeer said the steamer was on her way to this port, but in this he is evidently mistaken, as the records of the Merchants’ Exchange show #hat she cl ool N O 6 i e o 0 9 The Red Stack assistance. Mr. Dolbeer owned onezeighth of the vessel and the other seven-eighths were owned by the Humboldt Shingle Man- ared for San Pedro at 4:30 o’clock this morning it was reported from Point Reyes that the vessel had gone to landed their passengers at some point ACCUSES HIS BROTHER'S WIFE OF MURDER AND INCENDIARISM Archbishop Chapelle Criticizes Methods of American Uncle of Four Children Burned to Death in the Ruff Home at San Jose Causes Their Stepmother’s Arrest on the Charge That She Started the Conflagration to Special Disoatch to The Call. AN JOSE, Jan. 4—Mrs. Sallie Ruft, wite of Conrad Ruff and step- mother of the four little children who were burned to death here on the morning of December 22, has been charged with murder and arson. The arrest of Mrsy Ruff is the tragic cll- | max of a clandestine luve match betweer herself and husband Be- sides charging her with bei.g responsible | for the dcath of the four children burned Carl Ruff accused her of causing the death of another 3-year-old child of her husband on the eve of their departure for the United States. On ‘the morning of December 22 the home of Conrad Ruff, who.conducted a | dairy near the corner .f Alviso road ana Hamline street, on the northern outskiris was totaliy destroyed by fire. | Four children—Carl, Kate, Barbara and | Conrad Jr., aged from 6 to 14 years—were burned to death. Two others, Mary ang | Louls, were dragged from the burning window by Williain Mrs. Ruff, the sce- | ond wife of Ruff and stepmother of tre was rescued with her three- | Conrad Ruft, in Germany. children, was badly burned about hands. This morning Carl Ruff, a brother of her husband, appeared In Justice Rosenthal's court and swore to warrants charging Mrs. Ruff with murder and arson. He al- leged that she maliclously and felonious. 1y set fire to the house which caused the death of Carl Ruff, one of the children. According to the story o: the brother- in-law the woman's acilons since the fire have been very suspiclous. He says that Mre. Ruff never showed any love for tho children and barely tolcrated them. He declares that Mrs. Rufl, shortly before | the fire, packed her clothing and jewelry into trunks and had them stored in a tankhouse some distance from the housa burned. She moved all the children inte one room and'the four that were burncd to death occupled one bed. In this posi- tion their charred bodies were found. Th: other two slept on a couch on the floor. ‘When the hired man aud Ruff, who were milking the cows, saw smoke issuing from the houee and rushed to the building, it is alleged the back door was locked and they could not get in. This door had been open a few minutes before. Another sus- picious fact, Carl Ruff declares, is that the woman was warmly dressed beneath her nightdress and her own baby, which was rescued, was well clad and was lying on a pillow outside the window. The brother-in-law declares that on the eve of the departure for America of Ruf! and his wife a child 3 years old died mys- teriously. They were stopping at a hotel and after taking a walk and returning they found the child dead. A physician, after cursory examination, said it had dled of heart disease, but tho brother bellevos Mrs. Ruff was responsible for its death. Mrs. Ruff is a rather good looking| the STEP-CHILDREN. Put Them Out of the Way MRS. SALLIE RUFF, WHO IS ACCUSED OF HAVING CAUSED THE DEATH BY BURNING OF FOUR OF HER HER BROTHER-IN-LAW, THE COMPLAINANT, CHARGES THAT SHE SET FIRE TO HER DWELLING AT SAN JOSE. 3 woman of 22 years. She denies the charges and declares it is spite work on the part of her brother-in-law, to whom her hus- band had turned over $1000 insurance due on the burned dwelling. She said that she met her husband at Eddelstellen, Ger- many. He was a prosperous farmer and they fell in love with each other. Her parents objected to the match because Ruff was a widower with a large fam'‘ly of children, and because of this they left Germany. A marriage contract was en- tered into between her and Ruff and be- fore they left Germany and on arrival in New York last May they were married by a minister. Ruff had to leave ‘Germany because he was Involved in a swindling scheme and in order to escape arrest the couple traveled separately to this country. Ruff came alone and she followed with his children. They came at once to San Jose, where he purchased the Golden West Dalry. Mrs. Ruft says the first she knew of the house being on fire was when she was awakened by the children knocking on the door. At that time her room was filled with smoke and the fire was rapidly eat- ing its way toward her. the window to get out, but could get it up only a foot or so. She wrapped her baby up on a pillow and tossed it to the ground, a foot or so pelow. Her screams brought help and the window was broken in and she was dragged out. Mrs. Ruff says she was so badlv frightened that she could not say whether it was her husband or the hired man that rescued her. the tankhouse she says thct was done months before the fire. Mrs. Ruff says there was an Insurance of $1000 on the burned dwelling. A few days ago she heard that her husband had | turned the Insurance over to his brother and she stopped its payment. The policy was drawn in the Girard Company. Mrs. Ruff says that before leaving Germany she and her husband entered Into -an agreement whereby the survivor in case of death was to have everything and on this she based the claim for the insur- ance. Her husband turned the insuranca over to his brother without Tier consent. This aroused the brother, who, she de- clares, then caused her arrest. As to her removing her clothing to | — She tried to raise - Mrs. Ruff evidently comes from a well- to-do family, for letters on her person show she has between 60,000 and 70,000 marks in bank in Germany, which she Iu- herited. Ruff, who is at the O’Comnor | Sanitarium, although able to be out, has | not called to see his wife since the fire, and she believes he Is trying to get rid of her. Mrs. Ruff has engaged Attorneys Johrm Kerwin and Karl Klein and will make a fight for her liberty. Conrad Ruff, the husband, was closely examined by District Attorney Campbeil ; this afternoon at his office. He told a contradictory story. He said that on the | morning of the fire he himself had locked the door of the room occupled by Mrs, Ruff, but would give no reason for doing s0. He told nothing that would fasten crime upon his wife. Mrs. Ruff this evening was allowed to g0 to the home of her attorney for the night. This was done because it was not wished to keep her and her baby In jail, which lacks suitable quarters. She will be arraigned before Justice Rosenthal to- morrow morning. @ ittt e e e ASKS FOR A REPORT ON DEATH OF GREEN ‘WASHINGTON, Jan. 4—The Navy De- partment has called upon the Superin- tendent of the Naval Academy for a re- port on charges submitted by Representa- tive Racy of Virginia to the effect that a marine named Robert Green had died at Annapolis from fll-treatment while sick. It was alleged that Green was obliged to march while {ll from pneumonia and that the decks were washed beneath him while he lay in his hammock on'the Santee. The medical record shows that Green died December 14 from quick pneumonia. His father is a special pension examiner credited to Sandusky, Ohio. Perishes in !nrnlng Residence. CRAIG, Colo., Jan. 4—News has just reached here that the famous Ward road ranch house, with the Government bridge across the Bear River, was burmed on Christmas night and Mrs. Ward, the owner, perished in the flames. She was one of the most Interesting characters in the Colorado mountains and was the last of a family of four, all of whom met vio- lent deaths.