The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, November 21, 1902, Page 1

AND DEVASTATES KosmosLiner Amasis Brings From Strick- en Districts New_ and Heartrending Details of Central American Horror A tated distfct can never be rest most Pxtreme of early esti mates fell far below the ark. ored to fruitfulness. San — DVICES received here yesterday from the scene of the Guatemala visitation show that the Captain Teme of the Kosmos liner Amgsis says that 10,000 natives lost their lives in the volcano’s blast, and that the devas- Benito, Mexico, two hundred miles from Sasfa Maria, is covered six inches deep with ashes, and all vegetation has been destroyed. 10 {FICATION of the ction that not one- haf had been told of the recent desolation of Gua- Wi T temala given yesterday by| Captain, T liner Ama He brin thci latest word from the stricken dis-| t d his account dispels tes pe fhat in the panic and excite- | ment following the eruption the| ay have lingered of| suffered no great harm from the|the measurc of the planter’s pre- volcanic ash, but the residents| have received a scare which in- creases as time goes by. DBu menced an exodus which within a few weeks will leave the city as deserted as any of the ash smoth- ered plantations. Captain Teme, who has traded for many years along the Central ness men are gathering up their| of the Kosmos| possessions and there has com-| vious prosperity. Santa Maria | has reversed matters with a\ven- geance. 3 Meyer Loses AllL Captain Teme cites the case of Adolfo Meyer as an example. Meyer, in addition to owning rich plantations, was the virtual pro- prietor of the Champerico Rail- road. He was considered a mil- tion of the sufferers riot-| 1ngs as they are. the human fam- He tells of immense fortunes crumbled to dust and of \\'hole: regiments of helpless natives| smothered in as According to his account th of life has | been greater t carly ced it, and the| roperty 0TS 1 absolute- which arrived at Champerico han the City of Para. om Champerico to temala some two- s, and brought to| ncisco one planter that 1 him in Guatemala the | hard work. gees taken to agents rom other busi- | men along coast Captain gathered what he believes to be a thoroughly conservative of the extent of the damage | ght by the volcano. { 0,000 Are Killed. entire western half of| temala,” says the captain, “has been converted into a desert | and in the process all of 10,000 natives must have lost heir lives. For forty and fifty miles on all sides of Santa Maria the destruc- tion has been most complete and not even the most sanguine sug- the possibility of restoring| In Wes a om his a w34 perico and 1 ea gests the land to fruitfulness. ern Guatemala the fincas are ne and hope is dead. The peo- ple in this region are there trying to save something from | the wreck. This in most cases has proven a hopeless task. Many returned to their plantations| when the fall of ashes had sub- sided, looked around and made| all possible haste away from the desolation. Few of these will ever | return.” According to Captain Teme the crater’s hot breath burned a| wide waste, and as far away as San Benito, Mexico, two hun- ired miles from Santa Maria, the ground is covered with volcanic ash to a depth of six inches. Even this light fall will entail a serious | loss, but it is hoped that the heavy rains will wash it away in the course of time and leave the land as it was before the eruption. Quezaltenango Gone. Quezaltenango, the captain HNATIVES oOn THE "/‘&W;y‘-"fl; s a picture of disaster | 1 the wildest of | | | ruin has been absolute. says, is practically ruined, It has| O BBELGAL e EFANER. FHASIS ; % ) e TOLLAD ! GV TA SIAFLA— i i | TR { r:fl- [Z | | | g St i < £ l THE VOLCANO, FROM A PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN OCTOBER 24 AT QUEZALTENANGO B S 2 * American coast, was well ac-|lionaire and looked upon as one quainted with most of the big cof- fee planters. With many of these the volcano has dealt harshly, and in that three days deadly rain has| wiped out fortunes that took| years to build. In most cases the is about the only thing in Guate- | mala that is exchangeable for gold. The planters have lived | extravagantly, and, pinning their faith absolutely on the certainty of a harvest big enough to wipe out all indebtedness, have little | laid aside for a time of adversity. According to Captain Teme |and others familiar with condi- tions in Central America, the Guatemala planter, blinded by years of prosperity, learned to look upon his finca as a sort of widow’s cruse, with a flow that increased as the years went by. He enjoyed life and left the future to his coffee trees. Santa Maria has stripped his trees and buried his plantation. The bigger the plantation the greater the ex- travagance, and now, Captain Teme says, the men counted wealthiest as planters find them- selves in the worst predicament. Few in Western Guatemala have anything left but their debts, and these debts are large or small in Coffee | I of Guatemala’s captains of indus- try. His railroad runs for 'the most part through that part of the country which now lies bur- ied deep in pumice stone and ash. When the eruption commenced and as soon as it gave promise of driving to the coast residents in the vicinity of Santa Maria he or- dered nineteen trains to the threatened district and held them there in readiness to profit by the exodus which seemed a certainty. He took up his quarters in his private car and was on the spot and all ready to engage in the transportation business on a wholesale scale before the vol- cano got a good start. Then followed those three days of darkness. The pumice stone and ashes which gradually buried the country also covered his rail- road, agd in time buried his roll- ing stock. The debris that blocked the tracks and buried the cars of the Champerico Railroad also covered the Meyer planta- tions, and when the sun peeped out on Wednesday, October 29, it found Adolfo Meyer in a pri- vate car, firmly imbedded in a desert waste—and a poor man. Continued on Page 2, Column 1. VERY STRIKING DEGLARATIONS King Hurls Defiance at Murderous Methods of Agitators, BRUSSELS, Nov. 20.—King Leopold made a somewhat striking reply: to-day to a deputation from the Chamber, head- cd by the President, who presented his Majesty with an address of congratula- tion on his escape Saturday from the an- archist’s bullet. After thanking the Dep- uties the King continued: ““The times are very troubled. Agita- tors arc constantly stirring up their fol- lowers to disturb that order which is the guarantee of public liberties. Without or- Ger only license remains, which leads in- evitably to despotism. These agitators find in their path firstly the heads of states. 1f théy fail to reach them they attack their wives, as in the case of the horrible drama at Geneva. Their blows are also almed at Ministers, as in the blow up the houses of private indviduals. nol succeed. Even if they struck down the head of the state it would make n» difference, 'as he would soon be replaced. In addition to revolver' shots they employ the pen, ‘which ‘can write what calumnies they please.” I amn nearing the end of my LEOPOLD MAKES | case of Senor.‘Canovas, and they also| They want to intimidate us, but they will i BOSNIA SINKS [N BLACK 3tA ~ [URING A GALE Crew and Passengers, Numbering 150, Perish. Special Dispatch to The Call. BUCHAREST, Nov. 20.—The Universail stafes that the steamer Bosnia sank in the gale of Tuesday in the Black Sea. Her crew and passengers, numbering 150, were drowned. 3 LONDON, Nov. 20.—The Danish !eam-' er Knud II, Captain Hanssen, from Co- penhagen, and the British steamer Swale- i dale, from Hamburg, collided to-night at the mouth of the Tyme. The Knud II foundered immediately and the master and seven of the crew were drowned. Czar Remains in Crimea. ST. PETERSBURG, Nov. 20.—The Czar and Czarina are expected to remain in Crimea until the middle of December ‘when they will return to St. Petersburg. L e e e e et life. I do not know hcw long I shall live— how long they will let me live—but I can | dssure you all the rest of my existence wliil be devoled, within the limits of my constitutional powers, to the good of my country and the proiection of its liber- thes." % e - LR TETIAE ™ ] sz T | | WOMAN TRACKS FORMER FRIEND FOR HER CHILD Relentless Pursuit of the Man Ends in California. Special Dispatch to The Call. LOS ANGELES, Nov. 20.—After four vears of relentless tracking and follow- ing, a Tennessee girl of gentle breeding caught in Los ‘Angeles to-day the man who, she claims, kidnaped her child. It was his child and hers, she asserts. It was put away-to avoid a scandal, for they were both in the social blue book of Mem- phis. The woman. is Miss Priscilla Catherine Howell. He is Hugh W. Bryson. Long woman caused her to lose all dread of shame and she has devoted years to the effort of finding her child. Even now she does not know whether It is dead or alive. The man tells her that it died. Through almost every State west of the Mississippi she tracked him. Her de- tectives finally located him at Oxnard. To-day, after having been disarmed by an officer, who took her revolver for fear she would kill him, she caused his arrest | on a charge that he is a fugitive from justice. There is 2 warrant out for him in Memphis charging abduction, a felony in that State, and somewhere between here and Tennessee an officer is speeding to California with a requisition for the man's return. LEGAL FIGHT CERTAIN. Bryson proposes to fight the case and has plenty of money back of him. So has she, for she claims to be a niece of the publisher of the Atlanta Constitution and among her attorneys is Sendtor W. V. Sullivan of . Mississippl. She tells her story with dignified candor, but she never ports her statements with documentary evidence. Tt is' a pitiful story. She says she mel Bryson in society in Memphis in 180 and became engaged to marry him. A child INOTED SINGER WESTERN HALF OF BEAUTIFUL GUATEMALA IMPLICATED IN STRANGE DEATH {Member of Russian Noble Family Held for Shooting. PARIS, an America shot yesterday pied by Jean de —Ellen Gore, said to be was killed by a revolver the apartments occu- Rydzenski, a singer of ithe Imperial Theater of St. Petersburg. De Rydzenski at first said Miss Gore com= mitted suicide, but subsequently he de- clared the revolver went off accidentally. Consul General Gowdy is personally in- vestigating the death of Miss Gore, who was completing her musical education here and resided in the fashionable quar- ter of Passy. When found yesterday the victim was unconscious and had a bullet wound over her right eyve. Two doctors were summoned to attend her, but she died without regaining consciousness. The Russian singer comes from a rich and noble. Russian family. He is the son of a Russian géneral and he has uncles who hold high positions in the Russian service. Miss Gore lived in the Avenue de la Grande Armee, not far from the apart- ment of the Russian, where the tragedy occurred., The affair has caused much ex- citement in that locality. De Rydzenski is kept under. surveiliance. REGISTERS AS “MRBS.” GORE. Consul General Gowdy’s investigation has developed that Ellen Gore arrived in Paris on August 25 and registered at a boarding-house, 11 Avenue de la Grande Armee, as Mrs. Ellen Gorg of New York. She does not appear to have had any rela- tives residing in Paris, but among the ago the maternal instinct in this young | effects found in her room are several typewritten leters of recent dates bearing the heading “Attorney Edward C. Butler Gore, Court of Mexico.” These letters are of a strictly business nature, relating to property. The proprietor of Miss Gore's boarding- house says she appeared to be a con- scientious student; she worked hard at her musical studies and received few visitors. The doorkeeper of the house, who speaks in the highest terms of the deceased student, says he had seen her re-enter, accompanied by a gentleman, whose description tallles with that of M., de Rydzenski. : Cansul General Gowdy has not formed any theory regarding the cifcumstances of the death, but he will insist on the po- lice probing all the mysterious features of the case. The body has been removed to the Morgue, where it will remain until Gowdy has received advices from the woman's relatives. TELLS CONFLICTING STORIES. It appears that M. de Rydzenski re- turned to his lodgings, Rue de la Faisan- varles in- relating the details and sup-| gerje, at 5 o'clock yesterday afternoom, accompanied by Miss Gore, whom he took ¢} to his-room. Half an hour later the re- port of a revolver shot was heard and De Rydzeniski rushed into the hall shouting ‘ Continued on Page 3, Column 2. 1 Continued on Page 3, Column 3, 3