The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 3, 1902, Page 1

VOLUME XCII-NO. 125. SAN FRANCISCO, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1902. @all, ! to This the Library.++++ Paper not | bs taken from PRICE FIVE CENTS. EXPLOSION, FOLIOWED BY A4 SHEET. OF FLAME, HURLS ELEVEN WASHINGTON MINERS 70 SUDDEN DEATH PRESIDENT WILL BE ASKED 70 STOP MONSTROUS FRAUDS THAT THREATEN THE STATE Strong Arraignment Is Made of Grabbers Who Are Seizing Mining Claims and Timber Lands by Use of Dymmy Loca- tors, Menacing Varied Large Interests of the Commonwealth PRESIDENT'S EFFORTS 10 END STHIKE Coal Chiefs Rally for the Con- fe_rgllc_e. Mitchell May Agree That Men Return to Work. Operators Likely to Refuse to Deal With Leader of Strikers. CALL BUREAU, 1406 G STREET, N. W., WASHINGTON, Oct. 2—All talk in official circles regarding President Roose- velt's effort to be made to-morrow to settle the strike is conjecture, mingled with hope. The raflroad presi- dents and large coal operators, who were invited here by the President, arrived in r private cars to-night and are safe- moored on a siding at the Baltimore coal an Ohio station. John Mitchell, presi- of the United Mi ‘Workers of America, accompanied by the heads of the district organizations, is also-here &nd i in consultation with Samuel Gom- pers, president of the American Federa- tion of Labor. It is impossible to make any prediction as to the outcome based on the utterances of either coal operators | or strike leaders.. If what the operators | say accurately describes the spirit in which they will enter the conference, it would not be surprising if they all set thelr faces sternly against making any concessions. “Nothing to arbitrate,” they say. the President give us troops.” On the other hand the leaders of the strikers are only too anxious to have the matter arbitrated, and Samuel -Gompers who is supposed to be in very close touch with President Mitchell, sajd to-night: “The conference can certainly do no harm, apd it may result in the adjustment of this long-drawn-out controversy.” | A tone of hopefulness was observed in | prominent members of the administration to-night. They believe that if the Presi- dent gets both sides together and appeals to thelr public spirit in a sane and ra- tional way one or the other, or per- haps both, will yield. They feel that pub- lic sentiment is behind the President in his efforts to use the influence of his of- for public good—behind him so ngly that no collection of capital and | no aggregation of workingmen can af- | to be put in the position of prolong- which, if continued, might = stability of the republic. is out of the question as The legal proceedings | usetts are also mot to | 2 means of immediate | An extra session of the Legisla- of Pennsylvania has also been set An extra session of Congress for | cting laws that would both sides in this controversy is to be deemed impracticable. ra session of Congress would prob- e, because no one as yet has to state clearly what Congress | in the premises. It might pass | compelling arbitration in such dis- | strial deadlocks as -that 7, but here, again, would st there would be a session f sting probably a month, during which all the constitutional law- yers would wrangle and fight. If a law was passe: ich is probable, com- puls¢ry arbitration for which it provided would probably consume months. It also takes twenty davs to call Congress in extra session. There has been a suggestion that the Government should proceed against the raflroads in the coal combination on the ground that they are common carriers en- gaged In interstate commerce. But there are difficulties here. The Attorney Gen- eral has Gecided that the United States has no authority legally to interfere in this matter. Out of all these various sug- gestions of a way out it is understood that the President has been unable to find one that he can indorse and’ submit to the operators and miners. Therefore it is be- lieved that he will appeal to their pa- triotism and public spirit. It is learned to-night from a source which is usually well informed on labor matters and has always been found re- lable that one of the outcomes of to- morrow’s conference may be an offer by President Mitchell of the United Mine ‘Workers of America which will be sensa- tional, but at the same time accomplish instantly the President’s purpose of min- ing coal. It is sald that Mitchell, in all likelihood, on hearing the President’s plea for a termination of the strike, will say that his organization, since public inter- ests are threatened, is ready to comply with the President’s wishes and order the miners to work. The Post will say to-morrow that the coal presidents at to-morrow’s conference will decline the plan of strike settle- ment which proposes to treat with Presi- dent Mitchell, but that they have con- sidered = tentative plan, according to which “the ccel presidents will propose that the men return to work with the un- derstanding that their grievances, as in- dividuals, shall be submitted to a board of arbitration, apd that the coal presi- “Let urpose of e reach GIVING BIG BRIBES TO BOODLE COUNCIL Trial of Robert M. Snyder, Banker and Pro- moter, for Distributing Vast Sums to Secure Traction Legisiation at St. Louis 3 CIRCUIT ATTORNEY WHO IS -FEARLESSLY PROSECUTING MEM- BERS OF THE NOTORIOUS BOODLE COUNCIL THAT FLOURISHED | FOR YEARS AT THE CITY OF ‘ST. LOUIS, MO. ~~ T LOUIS, Oct. 2—When Judge | Ryan’s court met to-day the | trial. of "Robert M. Snyder, banker and promoter, on the charge of bribery in connec- tion with the passage of the Central Traction bill, was resumed. Fred- | erick G. Uthoff, who was a member of the City Councilsin April, 18%, was put on the stand by the State. It is expected to prove that money was paid to Uthoff by the defendant to secure his vote for the Central Traction bill. In answer to questions by Circuit Attor- ney Folk Uthoff testified that while a member of the City Council in 1898, when the North and South Traction bills were pending, Robert M. Snyder called on him at his residence, having been taken there by Louis Dieckmann by appointment. Ut- hoff continued: “After talking socially about half an hour Snyder said he lived in New York and that he was a millionaire, and that he was connected with a bank in Kansas City. He was talking about how much money he had. He sald he had made a part of it in the real estate boom in Kan- sas City. Then he agaln spoke of the Cen- tral Traction bill. I told him I did not want to talk about the matter. He sald we were both Masons and could discuss it the same as lodge matters. He sald I ought to favor him with my vote. OFFERED FIFTY THOUSAND. “I told him I had been approached and offered $50,000 for my vote. ‘I will get that amount and send it by Dieckmann,’ sald Bnyder to me. Now I never said then, nor have I ever said, that I would vote for the measure.” ‘Witness then told of a package brought to his house the following day by Dieck- mann and his second meeting with Sny- der. At that meeting Snyder said, “Ut- hoff, if you don't vote for that bill I am & ruined man.” “I told Snyder,” continued the witness, answering Folk, “that he should come to my house and get that package back, that I did not want it.” “Did he do as you requested?” “Yes, he came the next day,” said the witness, “and opened the package which contained currency, twenty-five checks of $1000 denomination and the balance in se- curities and papers. Snyder took the contents and departed.” 7 Uthoff said he next saw Snyder at the Planters’ Hotel. At this meeting Snyder talked of the Central Traction bill and also of a gas bill. Uthoff said Snyder told the witness that Jf he would intro- duce this gas bill as a “rider” to the Central Traction bill and work for its passage, as well as vote for the Central dents will agree to abide by the decision of this board, the members of which shall be appointed by the President.” I Traction bill, he would give the witness $100,000. . to he would give me $60,000 the next day,” Uthoff explained, “$15,000 when the gas bill was introduced and $25,000 .when the gas bill was passed. Then Sny- der took up two handfuls of bills and | sald, ‘Uthoff, here's $35,000. Dieckmann is on the floor of the Council with $10,000 more. I would have had $60,000 for you, but Charlie Carroll got $15,000 from me to- day.’ " . Uthoff said he refused to take any of the money then offered him by the pro- moter. “I said if I could see my way clear to vote for it I would do so0,” Uthoft said. The witness was not allowed to say whether he voted for the bill after it had been vetoed by the Mayor. Here the wit- ness told of & meeting arranged by Mep- ham and Dieckmann between Snyder and himself. At this meeting Snyder asked about an understanding with President Meier of the City Council. “What did you think we had an un- derstanding about?’ I asked him. “ *‘About your vote on the Central Trac- tion bill,’ said he. : “ “When Meier voted against the bill,’ said Snyder to me, ‘I supposed that he had given you the money. He is the man who got the $50,000. It was given to him through his son, Fred Meier: MET AT NEW YORK. The witness next saw Snyder at the ‘Waldorf-Astoria in New York, where the defendant said he had $5000 belonging to the promoters, which he was ready to glve Uthoff. He got $2500 on that visit and $2500 more three or four months later. The witness told of Snyder's attempts to get the $50,000 from Meler. Snyder said he would turn it over to Uthoff, Circuit Attorney Folk then proceeded to question the witness as to the opposition which had developed to the Central Trac- tion bill and sprang the most interesting bit of information which the Snyder trial has yet disclosed, involving the names of John Scullin, ex-street railroad magnate, and Edward Butler, a local millionaire politican. The witness sald an attempt was made to defeat the Central Traction measure by the use of a big sum of money, distributed in relays of $5000 each to certain Councilmen every month. ‘Witness testified that Butler paid the money to him and that he distributed it among Councilmen Gast, Gaus, Kratz and Thuner. “In March, 1898, Mr. Scullin gave me a bill to introduce, called the United Trac- tion bill,” TUthoff stated. “It was de- signed to head off the Central Traction bill. I met Mr. Scullln and he paid me $25,000 to push his bill and defeat the other one.” “What did you do with the money?"" “I returned it to Mr. Scullin through Ed Butler.” Brinkmeyer, | Disaster m a Northern - Town. Bodies of Men Burn mn the Slopes. Other Colliers Are Badly - BLACK DIAMOND, Wash., Oct. 2.— Eleven men were killed and three injured in a mine explosicn on the fourth level of the Lawson mine, & mile from this place, about 9 o'clock last night. The dead arc: JOHN SWANSON, married, wife and one child in Norway. ROBERT LAUNBERG, single, JOSEPH JOCKIE, married. FRANK FLINDER, single. FRANK GROSHELL, married, child. JOHN CREGHIND, single. * SIMON TRESIVEZ, married, four chil- dren. LOUIS DECKMAN, married. ED RECCI, single. ED APPLETON, married. HUGH LAVANDAR, single. The injured are: Chris Baker, slight- ly burned about the face; James Carson, serfously burned about the head, hands burned and injured. internally; Willlam ‘Whitsnell, slightly burned. INJURED WILL RECOVER. Of the injured Whitsnell was able to go home to-night. Baker and Carson are one Jones, at an improwlsed hospital. Both will recover. The bodles of the dead miners: are now in the hands of under- takers. The men employed in the workings, or chutes, were idstantly killed. Two gang- waymen and a driver, worl | farther in .the level, or gangway:-avidensly escaped. the effect of the explosion and instinc- tively started toward the slope for safety. The deadly afterdamp swept down on them and they succumbed after not more than a few minutes’ struggle against the fate their experience as miners told them lay in store for them. Only the boaies of the men in the work- ings are burned, showing that the sheet of flame which followed the explosion did not extend to the stope, though it is db- clared by some watchers to have been seen from the airshafts. Those miners whose bodies were burned were discov- ered lying in cramped positions, their legs closely drawn up to thelr bodies and their hands clinched. Dust covered their faces so that they were unrecognizable when first taken from the mine. Thelr clothes were torn and thickly coated by coal dust. The other bodies were not disfigured. CAUSE NOT KNOWN. Number 4 level in the Lawson mine has not been opened long. An auxiliary stope has been driven to this level or gangway and a force of men is at work extending the main stope from No. 3 level to the fourth gangway. A small chute runs from the main stope to No. 4 level. Yesterday afternoon the second shift went on duty at 3 p. m., expecting to work until 11. Fourteen men were work- ing on the No. 4 south and four on No. 4 north. Nineteen men had been assigned to duty on No. 3 level. Prior to the en- trance of the first shift the mine had been inspected for gas and before the sec- ond shift went on duty the dust was sprinkled. Of the fourteen men in the crew on No. 4 south, the three who were injured were working in the main stope, Baker and ‘Whitsnell some distance inside the chute and Carson at the gangway. From some cause, unknown at present, an explosion occurred about 9 p. m. yesterday. From the appearance of the gangway the ex- plosion occurred beyond the workings and the force was spent outward ‘toward the auxiliary stope. e ] ) After some further testimony, in the course of which witness said Snyder had tofd him he paid Councilman Charles E. Carroll $1500, Attorney Priest for the de- fense took the witness in hand and be- gan the cross-examination. PAID BY THE MONTH. Uthoff testified, under cross-examine. tion, that-last week he and Scullin were before the Grand Jury together, and that he told the Grand Jury that Haskell gave him $25,000 to vote against the traction bill. Attorney Priest questioned the wit- ness about Butler and the salary Uthoft said he (Butler) paid the witness, Gaus, Turner, Brinkmeyer dnd Kratz for six months. ‘Witness said Butler pald them $433 per month while the Central Traction bill was pending. This was to Insure the pro- moters of the traction bill that the six men in question would not vote for any rival street railway bill. Louis C. Deickmann was the next wit- ness. He was speaker of the House of Delegates for the years 1897 and 1898, while the Central Traction bill was pend- ing. Deickmann testified that Snyder asked him to assist in getting the Central Trac- tion bill passed, and Snyder said he woulc see that any promise made by George J. Kobusch, president of the St. Louis Car Company, would be kept. ‘Witness sald he agreed to assist. He told of arranging the first interview be- 1 Continued on Page 8, Column 8. attenided by the company’s physician, Dr. | MEN WHO ARE TAKING THE LEAD IN MAKING KNOWN TO THE NATION'S CHIEF THE WHOLESALE OPERATIONS OF EASTERN SPECULATORS IN THE FORESTED AND MINERALIZED PORTIONS OF CALI- PRESIDEN 7" OF THE SACRAMTENTO VALLEY = N M b ageny 0C/8270/%. 74 ; &L FINERALOOIST ) \ OF CALLroRMIA. a\ / 3 — I e *FORNIA THAT NEED GOVERNMENTAL ATTENTION. 4 N behalf of the mechanical, mining, agricultural and com- mercial interests of California, President Roosevelt is - about to be asked to take executive action *o put a stop to the wholesale grabbing of timber lands and mineral lands that is now going on in this State. A memorial, framed.and signed by the Sacramento Valley Develosment Association, has been indorsed by the State Mineralogist on behalf of the. min- ing interests and will be presented to the Governor- of California for indorsement for the whole State, in which the Presi- dent will be asked to. have all public timber lands in the State immediately withdrawn from sale, and also to make some recommendation to Congress. A short time ago the facts,concerning the extensive grabbing of mineral lands by the timber speculators in eight moun- tain countles of California, to the extent of 250,000 acres, as estimated by the State Mineralogist, were exclusively pub- lished in The Call. From that publica- tlon has arisen a determined movement to carry on war against the grabbers of timber - and mineral lands with all pos- sible vigor. ‘When the details of the predacious op- erations of timber speculators were re- vealed in this paper, the magnitude of the crisis was made apparent. The Sacra- mento Valley . Development . Association has been the first organized body to move. Its example undoubtedly will be follow- ed by others when the facts are séet forth in the memorial intended for President Roosevelt are considered. | In the meantime, on behalf of the min- krs of California, State Mineralogist Au- bury has taken steps to have details of operations against the welfare of. the State in the mining regions ascertained definitely. To-day he will have Horace Stevens, the well-known expert on the subject of land titles, start for Butte County. Mr. Stevens will visit other min- ing countles in turn, to make a thorough invu{}nv.lon. especially in the districts most ‘serlously affected. Oroville is the objective point, but it is the intention of the State Mineralogist to have Mr. Stev- ens go to the United States land offices and all county seats in Northern Califor- nia, Every miner who has a legitimate grievance will be invited to make it knawn, for there will be need of much def- inite information. The timber and miner- al claim grabbers will undoubtedly make a hard fight to prevent any such action. as is contemplated by the memorial to President Roosevelt. STRIKING DISCOVERIES. Alréady Mr. Aubury has -ascertained that at least 250,000 acres of mineralized lend in eight mountain counties have been seized upon by speculators through the agency of convenient dummy locators. A’ complete investigation will reveal that their ‘operations have been very much more extensive than this. An examina- tion of records at the United States Sur- veyor General's office in this city by Mr. Stevens has shown that from fifteen-to forty years have:elapsed -since the sur- veys of various townships where minerals arc known to exist were made undur gov- ernmental auspices. Mineral lands in the townships have been returned by men unfamiliar with the deails of making a proper segrega- tion. In one instance a township was found in- Plumas County that was re turned as agricultural land, with the ex- ception of a few isolated tracts. In that same township there have since been made more than ninety mineral entries, nearly all of which have been proved to be of valuable mining claims. In the memorial which has been pre- pared for - presentation to President Roosevelt is the following striking and iliustrative statement: In the United States Land Office at Roseberg, having jurisdiction of the public lands of the southern district of Oregon, there are mearly 4000 applications awaiting publica- tion and final proof for the pur- chase of timber lands im that dis- trict alone. This vast volume of ap- plication on Its face raises = pre- sumption of fraud. It is known teo your memorialists as an actually cxisting state of faets that a very large majority of these applications are made by parties not in their own interest, but in the interest of speculators and large capitalists, who are rapidly consolidating these into private ownership. The application of this is found in the fact that at the earliest possible date. these applicants convey the lands obtained by them to single individ- unals who are acquiring them im very large bodies. . A serles of general and specific state- ments are made for the information of the President that will attract wide at- tention from the nature of the grave evils that are certain to result from the unre- stricted and continued operations of the timber and mineral clalms grabbers. The somewhat familiar and cogent argument is first advanced that the destruction of the forest on the west slope of the Sierra — Nevada Mountains will render the streams on the watershed of the Sacra- mento Valley torrential in winter and in- significant in the anpual dry season in this State. The continued existence of the forests is indispensable to the con- servation of the waters that flow down the west flank of' the Siérras and to the equalization of the run off of the streams that flow into the Sacramento River. FACTS ARE GERMANE. The Sacramento River, says the memo- rial, is navigable. Its water stages are equalized by the forests on its éastern catchment area. The equalization of the flow of the mountain streams is indis- pensable for mining and mechanical uses; for the development of electrical power for transmision to the towns and citles, which is the only cheap mechanical power avallable in the State, The forest areas constitute natural res- ervoirs of the water needed for agricul- tural use in the great valleys of the State. It is clearly set forth that as be- tween constructing reservoirs to impound the waters of fhe streams which run down the western side of the Sierras to their central drainage In the Sacramento River and preserving natural reservoirs in the way of the forests, the economies are entirely on the side of preserving the forests. The mines demand the conserva- tion of water. Forested areas are rapidly passing into the hands of private owners, so the me- morial sets forth, through the interven- tion of fraudulent homestead claims and timber entries. This means that the tim- ber will be speedily cut and the aridity of lands in summer will be largely in- creased. Grave allegations are made for the con- sideration of President Roosevelt con- cerning the operation of the act relating to the Government reservation of forested lands. In that act is a provision that pri- vate lands in such forests may be sur- rendered to the Government of the United States and that such surrender consti- tutes the basis of lleu right. The prac- tice under this law has been unsatisfac- tory and has proved to be an instrument- ality in the destruction rather than of the preservation of the forests of the Pacific States.” How the act has been used agamst the public good is explained for the information of the President as fol~ lows: FRAUD IS EXPLAINED, The private ownerships ernment forest reservgtions have -Continued on Page 3, Column 8