The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 25, 1902, Page 1

VOLUME XCL-—NO 56. PRICE FIVE CENTS RESPECTABLE CITIZEN IS KILLED BY A POLICEMAN HE police are hot upon the trail of “Kid” Goucher and “Brownie,” the two footpads who, with the wounded-robber, Wade, killed Policeman E. C. Robinson, and it is believed that the desperadoes will be behind prison bars before many hours. The unfortunate shooting of Joseph S. Pedro, an inoffensive citizen, by a policeman, who mistook him for a footpad, follow- ing closely upon the killing of Robinson, has atoused the entire community to a realizing sense of insecurity, and the police authorities are taking extraordinary Mmeasures to stamp out the evil and put an end to the terrorizing epidemic of outlawry now prevailing’in this city. Two footpads were yesterday. given long terms in State’s prison as a warning to the ilk. TWENTY-ONE MEN MEET AN AWFUL: DEATH Explosion in a Coal Mine Causes a Harvest of Destruction. Victims of the Disaster Are Burned and Mutilated by the Flames. Debris Hurled in a Colupn Two Hun- dred Feet High, Top Works Blown Away and Fans and Cages Wrecked. were of the dead e mine, and ed morgue near The n in- er the care of pital equipped the Disaster. Ed Becress, Ed Swanson, Mabie, John Jenkins, George Gogo, Harry rned and Mutilated. e is ten miles south- 1 three miles norti of 1 occurred at the t is known'as a rs had just fired ts. one which the powder flame ig- i causing the explosion blown out of the A part of 1 away and the fans re wrecked. This made very slow, and it was entry, where the ex- e men of the rescue the mine their gaze. et met re terribly burned them almost be- Beyond where the wae burning flercely t was feared that the y oyed and | Flame: s Subdued, Bodies Carried Out. wever, the flames were sub- were then collected and aft entry escaped The total property damage will be about $10,000 was 6 o'clock this It nearly evening e scenes of anguish among the fam- les of the victims were most pitiful. Near 1 of the men were married and s in poor circumstances. POPE LEO IS AILING AND KEEPS TO HIS BED Hie Holiness Is Greatly Depressed by e News That Cardinal Cicca Is Dying. Jan. 24.—A World special says The Papal audiences thus creating uneasi- e’s health. pondent is informed Pope really ailing and keeps s reported to be dying -day liac trouble, confirming e i Cardinals die in trios. | T v depressed by the | v s apostolic blessing. Tool Patent Case Decided. IW YORK, J Judge Coxe of | the United St Circult Court to-day decided the “‘pneumatic tool” patent ca: favor of the Chicago company. These | vortable drills, driven by air, are used by | Be Union Iron Works and other large in- | dustrial establishments in San Fraacisco. eer parties dared to | sion more than | but all except | ast of the dead was taken out, | 'Murderers Make Sensational Escape. l who were implicated with Jack Wade, alias Henderson, in the brutal murder of Policeman Robinson. It was definitely settled yesterday that | the two criminals succeeded in making | good their escape from the city last Wednesday afternoon on the Sunset Lim- ited train, which leaves Third and Town- send streets at 433 p. m. Chief Wittman and Captain Seymour re- | ceived this information yesterday after- | noon and until late last night they kept the wires hot with dispatches to the au- HE police have at last found a live clew to the wherabouts of “Kif§” Goucher and “Brownie,” - thorities of all the southern towns in the | hope of intercenting the fugitives. In making their escape from the city “Kid” Goucher and “Brownie” secreted themselves on the stairs under the trap- door located in each end of a Pullman | car and with their bodies doublea up like | jackknives they rode safely out of the | reach of the detectives who have striven vainly to hunt them down. | It was a bold scheme. Nobody but & fugitive from justice, driven te the last peg of sheer desperation, would ettempt such a ride. The limited train upon which the murderers made their escape did not meke a single stop until it reached San Jose, so the men have at least put fifty miles or more between them and the scene of their terrible crime. Switchman Identified Them. About 3:45 o'clock Wednesday afternoon | one of the switchmen at Fifth and Town- send streets noticed a pair of hard-look- ing characters skulking around the rail- road tracks. He pald little attention to them at first, until one of the men ac- costed him and asked him if he thought | kimself and bis partner could catch the Sunset limited as it sped by Fifth street | on ite way out. The switchman eyed the pair keenly and then informed them that | they had better not try to board the | train as it passed Fifth street, becausc | at that point the limited fairly flew along the track. “If you are good railroad men,” said the switchman, *you "might make it, but if you don’t know the game you had better not try.” The switchman took particular pains to notice the general make-up of the two men, because it was an unusual question | they had asked. The two criminals an- swered the description of “Kid” Goucher | and “Brownie” in eVery detail. They were | attired in the same clothes they wore on the night they murdered Robinson, except that both had discarded their overcoats. | After leaving the switchman the men | whom the police are convinced are Goucher and *“Brownie” walked over be- hind the freight sheds. They wore a hunted look and shifted their eyes up and down the yard as they walked toward the sheds. When the limited pulled out of the depot the yardmaster saw both of thgm on the steps under the trap door. The smaller man, GoucHer, was on the front step and the man who answers the description of “Brownie” was doubled up under the trap at the rear end of the Pull- | man. The accurate descriptions given by both | the yardmaster and the switchman, who | bad quite a conversation with the palr, | and the fact that they took such an un- | comfortable and desperate method of stealing a ride have brought Captain Sey- mour and his men to the conclusion that | the much wanted pair are now speeding toward Mexico. The Sunset Limited goes through El Paso, Texas, and from therc it would be an easy matter for the mur- | derors to get over the Mexican border. Detectives on Their Trail. As soon as Captain Seymour received the “tip” that two men had skipped out on the Wednesday afternoon limited train to the south he detailed Detectives Wren PRINCIPALS IN EARLY MORNING SHOOTING AND CROOKS WHO RECEIVED HEAVY SENTENCES. e Policeman Joseph A. Crackbon Uninten- tionally Kills Joseph Pedro. ATROLMAN JOSEPH A. CRACKBON of the local Police Department shot and killed Jos- eph 8. Pedro, a teamster who recently arrived from Napa, at an early hour yesterday morn- ing. The officer juptifies his act by swear- ing that he believdd Pedro was a footpad, and further says he did not shoot to. kill, but to stop the teamster, who was run- ning away from him. His story of the shooting is told in the following statement made to Chief Witt- man yesterday morning: Crackbon’s Statement. “About 2 o'clock this morning I arrived at the corner of Eleventh and Mission streets. I heard some whistle calls in a low tone, such as men give in signaling each other. I stood at the grocery store at the southwest \corner ,of Eleventh and Mission talkigg to the proprietor of the store and another young man. Just be- fore I arrived at the above corner I met a young man going out Mission street be- tween Eleventh and Thirteenth answering the description of the man found dead on Seventeenth street above Valencia this morning. While I was talking to the men at the above grocery store a young man came along dressed in a light gray suit | and a white cowboy bhat, and I think he had a sweater*on. “The three ‘of remarked that he looked and acted like a crook, and prob- ably came up to size us up. We stepped out of sight in order to watch his actions. He scuffied along as far as Lafayette street, turned into this street and disap- peared. I was under the impression that he would come back again, thinking that we had disappeared. In company with one of the men I was talking to, we went to the corner of Eleventh and Minna streets with the intention of standing him up if he should come back. He did not us and Dinan to go at once to the depot and Continued on Page Two. come back. I then walked from Minna street to Lafayette and at the corner of Misalon and Lafayette streets I asked a baker if he saw a man go down Lafayette street, and he said he saw a man go down;, Lafayette street and turn down the south side of Mission street toward Twelfth. Acted Suspiciously. “I then went quickly up to Mission and out Mission and at Thirteenth and Mis- sion he crossed from the south side of Mission to the southwest' corner of Thir- teenth and Mission. I watched him’and saw him lingering along Mission street toward Fourteenth. I lingered® on Mis- sion, between Thirteenth and Fourteenth, and saw him turn up Fourteenth street toward Valencta. I ran to the corner of Fourteenth and Mission and followed up Fourteenth street after him and called to him to halt. He halted and I told him I was a police officer and showed him my star. I pulled my pistol out with my right hand and searched around his clothes with my left hand. I did not find any pis- tol on him. I walked him back to Mission street and out Mission as far as Sixteenth, questioning him on the way. He told me his name was Jones, that he/ lived on Sixth and Minna and that he worked for the Great Eastern Dairy, Sixteenth and Guerrero, and was £0ing to work. “I askeed him what made him act in such ‘a suspicious way, dodging in and out of small streets; he said he was walk- ing in his sleep and hardly knew where he was going. I told him fo go to work and not be acting like that again, as he was liable to get into trouble. He then left me, saying he would go to work, and started up Sixteenth street. I then crossed over to the southwest corner of Sixteenth and Mission and noticed a young man standing around Pattosien’s furniture store, northeast corner of Six- teenth and Mission. I got in a dark cor- ner and watched him. He then came across and walked up the north side of Sixteenth to Julian avenue and crosked over to Hoff avenue and came-~ back SternJustice Falls Heavily on Robbers. HE criminal element will soon find it adyisable to give San Francisco ‘a’ wide berth if the'| Judges of the Superior courts | continue -to deal as heavi . With convicted felons as they aid yesterday . with those who ap- peared . for sentence. A former sol- dier, convicted of robbery, was sent to San Quentin fory life, and a thug who was driven from Portland, Or., by the police and who was caught here after the com- mission of a daring hold-up was sent to the penitentiary for twenty-seven years. Another thief 67 years of age, who has already spent twenty years behind the bars, was sent across the bay for ten years for purse snatching. It is hoped that this “liberal” dispensing of justice will have a salutary. effect upon’ the criminals who have flocked here to spend the wjster. The Judges have de- cided to heavily punish all convicted fel- ons and light sentences will in the future be rarities. " Goes to Prison for Life. John H. Wood, a former soldier, was convicted by a jury in Judge Cook's court yesterday on a’charge of robbery. He waived time for sentence and was prompt- 1y sentenced to ¥mprisonment for life in Folsom penitentiary. In passing sentence Judge Cook said that robbery was too prevalent in the city and that any one who was brought before him on that charge and convicted would receive the full penalty, particularly when ‘the prisoner used a deadly weapon in the execution of the crime, as was done in the case before him. When a prisoner pleaded guilty, he said, and threw him- self upon the clemency of the court, there~ by saving considerable expense to che city and county, he would probably show him some leniency. ood placed a revolver to the head of his victim and no doubt would have taken his life if he had not grappled ‘with him and prevented him from firing till the officers appeared. The prisoner took his sentence coolly, the only remark he made being, “That is an awful dose and I haven’t had my breakfast yet.”” Wood is said to belong to a wealthy family In Texas. While a soldler in the Philippines he was accused of deserting his post and robbing Filipinos | | | | } | X APTURE OF ROBINSON’S MURDERERS IS IMMINENT Crusade Against - Criminals in Favor. OLICE Commissioners and po- lice officers are considering methods to meet the alarming increase of highway robbery and crimes assoclated with that form ‘of law-bredking. A { hossible temporary increase of the police | force, a round-up of the criminal element Ly means of wholesale arrests of crooks | on’ suspicion and on trivial charges that i | | | | ¢xtreme sentences upon convicted Will serve to keep them hunting cover until they will be glad to get but of the city, and the ‘infliction by the courts of foot- | pads are methods that have their advo- | cates among those in authority. Police - Commissioners Newhall and Hutton both favor strongly the terroriza- | tion of criminals by the round-up meth- ods. In interviews yesterday they said they believed thoroughly in “such pro- cedure. Commissioner Hutton expressed his in- tention of investigating to learn whether or not a surplus exists in any fund that might be transferred to the police fund and used to provide for a temporary in- crease of the police force. Excepi by this means or a draft upon the special emer- gency fund the police force, admittedly inadequate in numbers, cannot be in- creased- until the beginning of the next fiscal year—July 1. Wittman: Discusses Conditions. Chief of Police Wittman, in discussing the situation and the possible remedies, | yesterday said: ‘‘We have ‘a large city, a garrison town | filed with recruits and discharged sol- diers, 3 seaport that draws to it men of all races and from all parts of the world and with them come the ; offscourings, the scum of all stages and kinds of civili- zations. - All these facts nfust be taken into account in considering the causes for the present frequency of crime. “It is not fair to us to compare San Francisco with inland citles of an equal | population. This is a cosmopolitan city, very cosmopolitan. Not even New York can compare with us in that respect. We have Malays, Hindoos, Chinese and all sorts of peoples to deal with, and with all the conditions existing here crime must be expected and guarded against as care- fully as possible. ““The police force is simply not adequate in numbers under existing conditions. The charter permits the increase of the force up to the limit of one policeman to every 500 of population. data I can collect I population is very close to 400,000. The last census was taken in June, when fully 20,000 people were out of the city, and the population was found to be 342.782. Tak- ing into consideration San Francisco's growth since the taking of the census, I am convinced that the true fotal of popu- lation is not far from the 400,000 mark. That leaves our police force of 489 men far below the limit fixed by the charter, whereas in view of our geographical lo- cation and other conditions there is every reason why we should have a force as large as can legally be maintained. ‘*“However, the force cannot be increased Continued on Page Two. . Continued on ?ugo_ Two. Continued on Page Two. From all the | believe the city’s | PRESIDENT 15 ANXIOUS FOR CANAL / Desires Action During the Present Session of Congress. Position as to Route Is, if It Cannot Be Panama It Must Be Nicaragua. Roosevelt Would Circumvent Influ- ences That Will Strive to Cause a Deadlock on Needed Legislation. Special Dispatch to The Call. €ALL BUREAU, 406 G STREET, N. W., WASHINGTON, Jan. 24.—President Roosevelt has been asked to take sides in the struggle in Congress Gver the route for the proposed isthmian canal. He is not Hkely to do so, but'his position on this question can bé accurately stated be- | cause he has made it clear in conversa- tions with Senators and others. The Pres- ident earnestly hopes for canal legisla- tion. He does not want Congress to ad- journ without passing a bill authorizing the beginning of work. He thinks the time has come when the first step should be taken amd that there is no call for further delay and examination. He has his own ideas as to the best route and unquestioniably thinks that Panama offers the best lvantage. At the same time he- understands the anxiety of a ma- Jority of the interoceanic canal commit- tee lest the Panama offer should, when too late, be discovered to be inadequate to complete the transfer of the property and rights, and is not disposed to find fault with their position knowing it arisés from homest zeal in the cause of pro- moting a canal. Hence he is not a “Panama man"” in the sense that Senator Depew is. His po- sition is that if it cannot be Panama it must be Nicaragua. He has no sympathy with ‘extremists, who on one side are for | Nicaragua or nothing, and on the other for Panama or nothing. So eager Is he for the beginning of work that he would welcome a bill for a route that he does not consider the best rather than have | the matter thrown over to a future ses- | sion of Congress. He takes this position | because he thinks that on both routes a | canal can be constructed and operated | within the limits of the estimates, and if prejudice against Panama should Le | insurmountable he does not want that | fact to stand in the way of the United | States going ahead with this great work | by way of Nicaragua. | The President does not think Congress | ought to throw the selection of the route | on him. He would doubtiess meet the re- | sponsibiitty if he had to, but he believes that the selection of the route is some- thing that belongs to Congress. At the same time those who hav@ an opportunity | of talking with the President on fhis sub- | ject are_convinced that the desire of Roosevelt for canal action is so genuine | that he would take the burden of fxing the route if he could not get legislation | otherwise. | But what the President does not want to see is a deadlock between Panama and | Nicaragua. He knows that there are cer- | tath influences at work to bring about h a result. He hopes that they will | be defeated. He will do nothing that can be construed into taking sides with either | taction and his influence will be in the direction of action not delay. Senator Morgan sent to all members of the Senate Interoceanic Canal Committee | to-day the draft of a report that he has made supporting the Nicaragua canal bill. Senator' Hanna will draw a minority re- port and there will be a lively time at the next meeting of the committee. Sen- ator Hanna said to-day that there was | not much prospect of the Panama route prevailing in the committee, Several of the Senators who are wedded to the Nica~ rauga route are very bitter against the French offer. Senator Hawley of Cone necticut, who is a member of the com- mittee, "says that the Panama canal is simply carrion from the bones of which the crows ‘have picked all the flesh. ASSASSIN MAY HAVE ATTEMPTED KING’'S LIFE port Says George of Greece Was in Danger, but It Is Denied. VIENNA, Jan. 24—Thae Neue Frefe Pre: to-day prints an unconfirmed story of an !attempt to assassinate King. George of Greece. According to this report, his Majesty was walking in the park at Pha- leron when a man, brandishing a knife, rushed upon him. A park Insgector jumped between them and received a stab, intended for the King. The would- be assassin was arrested. ATHENS, Jan. 2i.—Investigation of the report that an attempt had been mads upon the life of King George of Greeca in | the park at Phaleron proves it to be wholly without foundatiom.