The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 16, 1902, Page 1

e — Ox "om e+ 10 r fr s VOLUME XCL—NO 47 SAN FRANCISCO, THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 1902. COWARDLY CREW LEAVES OFFICERS TO PERISH COLOMBIAN COVERNMENT NS REBELS Permits ' Venezuelan In- surgents to Land at Savanilla. Believed to Be in Sympathy | With Movement Against Castro. Duplicity of the Caracas Officials in Refusing M. Secrestat a Land- | ing Will Cause Action by France. el Rl COLOX, Colombia, Jan. 15.—The steamer 1 a e vessel being used by Gen- zuela in the revolution ro of that coun- Colombia, Jan- board. a, Matos on king General Barranquilla, seventeen ed Colombian Government belie some quar- y with the operations of the has purchased the belonging to the Pacific Company. Artillery an gunboat General Pin- mounted on the Chucuito, bigger than the Liberal boat Daren. Eight Shots Across Bows. e hundred of the men broug ; from Savanilla by the > Panama to-day sailing vessel, which has just arrived Panama, reports that the Liberal gunboat Padilla fired eight shots er bows while she was at sea, mitted to proceed to ment of Cauca overnment has cabled & military commander of this district, that it is about to send him 00 men from Buena Ventura, on the Pa- ific Coast, shoul uire them. France Has Fresh Grievance. WILLEMSTAD, Isl t here Pinzon A small e T d of Curacao, Jan. | —~The Vene! an Governme yester- after much loss of time, aliowed ail engers but one, M. Secrestat Jr. La G a from the French Laurent, from Bordeaux, | by way tander, December 17. M. | at line steamer St Sa Matos took | PRICE FIVE CENTS. ON THE FAST-SINKING STEAM COLLIER BRISTOL Schmitz Says Accused Is Not Conveying a Favor. Hearing of Evidence Will Continue To-Day. ERT MAHONY, County Clerk, denies the authority of the Mayor to investigate charges against his official integrity, and prefers to rest under accusations that If proven mean dismissal from office, disgrace and possibly the fel- on’s cell. Mahony and his attorney, Thomas D. Riordan, responded to the subpoena and appeared before Mayor Schmitz yesterday afternoon, but on the advice of Riordan, any statement. We deny your authority to investi- gate charges of ante-election miscon- duet,” sald Riordan, “and with all due deference to your position my client will refuse to be sworn. We are here simply out of respect to your office, as a favor to you.” “A favor to me?”’ repeated the big Mayor in stentorian voice, with indigna- tion in every tone. “It is no favor to me. If I were the County Clerk and were in- nocent of the charges made by The Call I would have been at the Mayor's office vesterday demanding a full and complete stigation, not seeking to evade an in- terview and later denying the Mayor ju- risdiction in the case.” But Mahony mops his brow and stands pat. content that the world may think as it likes, if only he can hold on in sheer desperation until some legal light can find 2 soft spot on which he and his political ambitions may fall in a heap. Investigation Not Completed. The investigation by the Mayor was not completed vesterday. It will continue | this afternoon at 2 o’clock. Former Coun- ty Clerk Deane testify, and Mrs. will be called upon to Deane will be asked to relate what she knows of some of Bert Mahon ante-election pledges to her husband and his later appeals to the men | whom he had turned down so treacher- ously to spare him the disgrace of ex- Secrestat is the son of the French mer- chant who obtained a lease of the estates | in Venezuela belonging to General Man- | uel A leader of the revolution against President Castro, and he was on s way to Caracas in order to enter for- the seizure of the by the Venezuelan spite of the fact that the had been legally recorded. s refusal to allow M. Secrestat to go the French Consul at from the Venezuelan gn Affairs a written edge that M. Secrestat would be allowed y difficulty, has resulted ts on the part of the transaction d w in cnergetic pry Consul, who has referred the matter to | his Government. The pretext on which the ng of M. Secrestat was forbidden e may have conferred with Gen- tos. Greeted by Nicaraguans. MANAGUA, Nicaragua, Jan. 15, via t d ya gave an at Corinto to-day in | Sierra of Hi na, the M who have wvitation of Pr ference in with representa- tives of the other Central American re- publics Jooking, as declared, to the preser- wvation of peace in those states. Thousands of natives of Nicaragua were present at the function. TROOPS KILLED BY MISTAKE. Two Bodies of Government Soldiers Engaged in Battle. COLON, Jan. 15.—News of a serious ke in which & force of Government s fought another body of Govern- ment sciciers, thinking it was composed of Colombian revolutionists, has been | trought here by the Colombian warship | Genral Finzon. The mistake happened in the vicinity of , near Rio Hacha, and it resulted : men being killed and six s Regalado of Salvador nduras and General Mo- er of War of Guatemala, co t that vessel landed 400 men in ilo Lu drive back the insurgents. The luionists retreated toward Rlo Ha- a when the Government troops 4. It was decided to divide the ment forces into two bodies in v capture the rebels. One of these the rebels and after a sharp en- gegement the insurgents retreated. The other body of Government troops then came up, having heard the firing, and the mistake followed. Thinking that it was opposed by rebels, each force started firing. The fight was kept up for four hours, when General Follaco discov- ered the mistake and stopped the battle, which had been evenly contested. ad- Chinese Murderer Escapes. ILWACO, Wash., Jan. 15.—Lum You, a Chinese sentenced to be hanged on Jan- | legal technicalities. posure and to give him a chance to free himself from the baneful influence of Crimmins and Herrin that he may yet fulfill his promises to his personal friends. Mahony doubtless will continue to deny the Mayor's jurisdiction. Mayor Schmitz, in common with all except the few whose selfish interests array them with Ma- hony, is evidently convinced .of the Coun- y Clerk’s guilt, for the evidence is con- clusive and Mahony’s course, even in the | absence of positive testimony, would con- vict him before any tribunal where jus- tice is mot both blinded and gaggdd by There is little doubt that the Mayor will proceed with charac- teristic vigor against the wobbly County Clerk whose feet have straved so far from the path of official rectitude. Ma- hony’s attorney will appeal to the courts, and if the law's safeguards agalnst pun- ishment of the innocent can be invoked for the protection of the all but self-con- victed public servant Mahony is likely to continue for some months to come his ob- noxious direction of incompetent deputies, who are fast making a muddle of the af- fairs of the living and of the dead that must become matters of record in the County Clerk’s office. Grand Jury Is Another Story. But there is another host with whom Mahony refused to be sworn or to make? NN, | CAUGHT! Mahony must reckon. He refuses to be sworn before the Mayor, and the Mayor's investigation suffers that handicap. To- morrow the Grand Jury will begin an in- quiry. The princfpal actors in the scan- dal and the agents of its exposure have been subpenaed-and there will be no’say- ing nay to the Grand Jury. The County Clerk may mop his brow and turn and twist and double on his tracks, and his counsel may interpose objections and grope for legal obstacles, but the murder will out. Truth to say, between the May- or and the Grand Jury, and with docu- mentary evidence of his venality in ex- istence dnd witnesses ready with damn- ing testimony, the County Clerk’s bed fs not one of roses. But he has made it and he must lie on it. ‘The Call is not a pub- lic prosecutor. Its duty to the public de- manded the publication of the story of Mahony's illegal acts. If the County Clerk has been libeled he has recourse through the courts. If the charges be true, if Mahony has® offended against charter provision and’ State law, if the important functions of the County Clerk’s office are under the direction of a man who is guilty of felony, the sense of right and justice will demand that retribution be swift and sure. Crimmins and Herrin will not have many to join them in the hope that technicality may impede the wheels of justice. Denies Mayor’s Jurisdiction. Attorney Riordan bases his denial of the COUNTY CLERK MAHONY DENIES AUTHORITY OF MAYOR TO INVESTIGATE HIS ALLEGED MISCONDUCT AND REFUSES TO TESTIFY OR DENY EXISTENCE OF DEANE CONTRACT County Clerk Tries to Suppress the Story. Grew Agitated When Told of His Bond of Shame. OR two hours and a half yester- day afternoon the Mayor's office was a torture chamber for Bert Mahony. Two witnesses gave Mayor Schmitz straightforward accounts of the knowledge that had come to them of the County Clerk's disregard of law in his efforts to secure office. John Flood made lame denial of remembrance of the now famous ante- election contract, but ,would not state positively that he had not signed such a contract. Mahony himself refused to tes- tify, acting on the advice of his attorney. The investigation was in executive ses- sion, and at 4:30 o'clock Mayor Schmitz sent for the reporters, who were waiting in the outer office, and informed them that the investigation had been continued and would proceed at 2 o’clock this after- noon, when other witnesses would be present. He said that nothing would be given out until the conclusion of the in- vestigation, when copies of the steno- graphic report would be furnished the papers. Mahony and his attorney, Thomas D. Riordan, were walting in the outer room of the Mayor's office when the hour set for the investigation—2 o’clock—came. Soon after they were ushered into the Mayor's presence. A little later the manager of The Call arrived and was admitted to the inner office. Mayor Schmitz asked Mahony if he was ready to be sworn, and held up his hand, preparing to administer the oath. Mahony Refuses to Testify. “Acting under the advice of my attor- ney,” Mahony replied, “I refuse to be sworn. We do not recognize your juris- diction in this matter.” Riordan explained ‘the grounds of his objections to investigation by the Mayor. He said the office was a county office and its incumbent could not be removed by the chief executive of the municipal- ity; and that even if Mahony could be re- moved from office by the Mayor for cause. the alleged offenses were committed be- fore the election of either Mahony or the Mayor and were beyond the range of legal inquiry by the Mayor. In answer to the- Mayor's assertion that if a charter provision had been violated in the distribution of rewards he surely had power under the charter to remove the offender from office, Riordan replied that such distribution of rewards as per the alleged contract had not been made. Abe Ruef, the Mayor's attorney, came in during the discussion and advised the Mayor that he had authority to proceed. “I will make this statement,” said At- torney Riordan, “‘my client has not signed any contract in violation of the law."” “Did he sign the contract specified by The Call?” asked Mayor Schmitz. “I will not say that he did not,” said Riordan, “but he did not sign anything in violation of the law.” “I want your statement abouf this con- tract,”” the Mayor said to Mahony, and again urged him to take the oath, but niordan refused to permit it. Continued on Pl’ge Three. Continued on Page Three. against him. tion which he daré not deny. Mayor of San Francisco. tary 81, escaped from the South Bend Jall yesterday and is still at large. -— County Clerk Mahony stands accused by this paper of having committed a felony in signing a written pledge to appoint William A. Deane his chief flepgty and four or five of Deane’s personal friends to’ positions of responsibil- ity in the County Clerk’s office in consideration of the retirement of Deane as an opposing candidate for the nomination of County Clerk. agreement County Clerk Mahony under the laws of this State com 1 a felony and under the provisions of the municipal charter an offense. one he is subject to the punishment which the commission of a felony involves I . concerned, above criticism or censure. In answering this official demand to vindicate his personal honor and clear his skirts of the deeply significant accusations of irresponsibility and crime, County Clerk Mahony did not even accept the privilege granted to every ac- cused person who stands either before the bar of public opinion or of a court. He did not have the hardihood to plead not guilty, but through his attorney took the extraordinary stand that whatever he did, criminal or otherwise, be- fore his induction into office, is not a subject of legitimate inquiry by the vestigation. n signing this Under barriers of a court’s delay. Yy COUNTY CLERK MAHONY DEFIES ANY MUNICIPAL CRITICISM OF HIS ACTS E of the most remarkable scenes ever witnessed in this city took place yesterday afternoon in the office of Mayor Schmitz when Coun- ty «Clerk A. B. Mahony was summoned by the chief magistrate of San Francisco to answer the grave charges which The Call has made More remarkable than this fact was the position taken by the County Clerk, who stands discredited under a weight of suspicion and accusa- and under the other he has made himself liable to summary removal. Mayor Schmitz made every endeavor yesterday to induce County Clerk Mahony either to affirm the truth of the accusations or to deny them. County Clerk declined to be sworn. He insisted that his acts of whatever char- acter were not subjects of investigation by the Mayor and concluded with the impudent proposition that he is, as far as the chief executive of this city is Notwithstanding this unusual attitude of the County Clerk, Mayor Schmitz pursued his inquiry and from other wit- nesses learned that the County Clerk had signed an incriminating ante-elec- tion compact identical in provisions as The Call has declared. The inquiry will be resumed to-day, and to-morrow the Grand Jury, aroused to vigorous action by ‘the gravity of the affair, will begin an independent in- | And during all of this County Clerk Mahony stands doubly dis- | credited before the people of this city. He has appeared before a magistrate of competent "authority and in the face of accusations which stain his personal and official honor has refused to deny the charges.. He has sought to delay the inevitable effect of his ante-election compact by concealing himself behind the He has met the most serious assault upon his per- sonal and professional honesty by declining to meet this attack upon him and The Call again asks him in the name of public decency to prove that it has either - unjustly maligned him or to admit that he is what The Call character- | izes him, a man unfit to hold public office, an official dangerous to the com- munity, and a type of authority which is distinctly an evil to this city. —_——— % The WALBLE BOATS ARE AL TAKEN Seamen Abandon Cap- tain McIntyre and Six Men. Cottage City Brings Sensa~ tional Accounts of the Disaster. Her Master Declares Not a Soul Should Have Been Lost in the Wreck of the Coal-Laden Steamship. Special Dispatch to The Call. PORT TOWNSEND, Jan. 15.—~The aeath of Captain James McIntyre, Pilot Roberts, Chief Engineer Vivian, Third Engineer Edwards, Oiler Hurlbut, Second Steward Roemer and Joseph Silva of the steam- ship Bristo! was due to the cowardice of the crew, who took all the avallable boats and left these seven without means of escape. This is the substance of the stories told here to-day by the captain and seamen of the steamship Cottage City, just arrived from the north. The statemernts of Captain Wallace of the Cottage City throw new light on the manner in which Captain Meclntyre and other officers of the Bristol met death Wwhen that vessel crashed on the rocks near Dixon entrance on January 2. Cenflicting Stories Are Told. ‘When the survivors arrived here Chief Officer Smith said that the seven men were preparing to launch a lifeboat when the last survivors lett the wreck. Accord- ing to the reports brought by the Cottage City the Bristol carried enly four boats and a small skiff and either one of the large boats would have carried the entire crew of twenty-eight men. It is the opin- ion of Captain Wallace of the Cottage City that as soon as the vessel struck there was a general scramble for the boats. The first boat to leave contained fourteen men, the second five and the third only two, leaving seven men to lower the big lifeboat, which was turned bot- tom up and securely lashed to the deck. Before it could be lowered the ship went down, carrying the unfortunates with it. When the boats were rescued by the Cottage City Mate Smith gave an account of the mishap differing from the one he related at Ketchikan, where the survivers were landed, and while in this city he gave several versions of the disaster to relatives, of Captain MecIntyre and to newspaper men. Captain Wallace says that when he picked up the crew no two of the men told the same story relative to the last moments on board the Bristol before they deserted her, and not one of them could give an intelligent account as to the place where the vessel struck. Captain Wallace further declared that he could not decide, from the various stories, when the vessel struck, so he cruised around the various reefs and at no pilace could he find wreckage or any- thing to indicate a disaster. The weather was clear and with glasses he could dis- cern anything a distance of ten miles. Seaman’s Account of Wreck. One member of the crew Is reported to have said in Ketchikan that Captain Me- Intyre had gome into Lis foom to get his bird and dog. When he' came out the crew had taken to the boats. This sailor made a rush and succeeded in getting into one of the boats and thereby saved his life. That was the last seen of those who remained on the Bristol. ~'The greatest contusion prevailed when the vessel struck and it was “every man for himself.” If such had not been the case all would have been saved. Relatives of Captain McIntyre residing here have abandoned all hope that he reached one of the numerous Islands and have given him up as lost. Because of the information they have received rela- tive to the conduct of the crew and which they refuse to make public at present they will demand a rigid investigation of the wreck by the Canadian authorities. They declare that sensational developments will be brought out. BATTLESHIP IOWA WILL ROUND THE HORN Famous War Vessel to Be Flagship of the South Atlantic Squadron. WASHINGTON, Jan. 15.—Secretary Long will order the battleship Iowa to round Cape Horn and assume duty as the flagship of the South Atlantic squadron. The Iowa is.now in Chilean waters. The Argentine press may resent her appear- ance in Argentine waters because of the speech Captain Perry, commanding the battleship, is alleged to have made, in which he predicted .a victory for the Chilean navy in case of war. The determination of the Secretary to send the flagship to the South Atlantic shows that he will shortly select a flag officer to command this station. Rear Admiral E. M. Shepard is mentioned among those in the Secretary’s mind for the place. In assigning the Iowa to the South Atlantic Secretary Long has pur- sued a policy of having a battleship on every American naval station. The Ore- gon was In Asfatic waters until the Ken- tucky arrived. The Wisconsin is on the Pacific station. The Tllinois has been se- lected for service in Europe. Four battle~ ships are in North American watemm